Ephesians: Finding our Identity in Christ
Ephesians 3:1-13
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
Chenoa Baptist Church
3-22-2026
Do you Want to Know a Secret?
Starting in November, Maxine was excited about the Christmas present she got me. There were little hints along the away but not enough to really give an educated guess. It was a secret hidden in the mind of Maxine.
On Christmas morning, she was giddy to reveal her secret - two floor seats to the Tony award winning Broadway musical “Maybe Happy Ending” at the Belasco Theater in New York!
It was better than I had even imagined.
The secret was hidden until revealed on Christmas morning.
That’s what we are going to see this morning in Ephesians 3. There was a mystery that God knew and was hidden in the Old Testament but, through a guy named Paul, the secret would be revealed and change the world!
Please turn with me to Ephesians 3.
Prayer.
Paul’s Situation: A Prisoner
For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—
Paul begins by pointing back to the verses we studied last week. God had taken Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians and broken down the wall of hatred and hostility through the cross to make one new entity - the church.
Paul reminds them of his location. He is under house arrest in Rome, chained to a Roman guard awaiting trial.
He had been accused by the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem of bringing a Gentile into the Temple. If you remember from last week, if a Gentile went past the dividing wall of the court of the Gentiles, he would be put to death.
Paul didn’t do what he was accused of but that didn’t matter. The Jewish leaders were furious that he was preaching that, through the cross of Christ, Jews and Gentiles alike could become one new body called the church.
Notice that Paul wasn’t in chains because of sin or anything illegal or immoral. Notice also that he didn’t consider himself to be a prisoner of Caesar Nero but of Christ Jesus.
His situation didn’t define his outlook.
I’ve always remembered the story of Corrie Ten Boom and her sister in the concentration camp during WWII. Their cabin was infected with lice and Corrie’s sister became incredibly frustrated with God, asking why would He let this happen?
Corrie listened and then reminded her that because they all had lice, the German guards left them alone at night. The lice was His protection and provision for them.
Paul may have been in bondage, but his heart was free and overwhelmed with his concern and care for the church at Ephesus.
He was in chains “for the sake of you Gentiles.”
Paul had once been called Saul. He was a Pharisee, the strictest sect of Judaism. He believed that followers of Jesus were a dangerous cult that needed to be wiped out.
That was until, on the way to Damascus, Jesus showed up and wiped Saul out!
After his encounter with the risen Christ, he was blinded and led into the city and told to wait for a man named Ananias to come lay hands on him.
When God told Ananias what he was to do, he was, understandably afraid:
“Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”
God listening to his fear and then commands faith:
But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” (Acts 9:13-16)
Paul would be the one to take the good news of the Gospel to the Gentiles. God also made it clear that suffering would be a part of that calling.
Squirrel
If you read chapter three out loud, you discover that Paul begins a thought in verse one and then….squirrel, he gets distracted. Actually, he begins a prayer and then gets off track.
Have you ever had that happen? You are trying to pray but then you think about the grocery list, or whether your March Madness Bracket is still intact or in shambles, or if it is going to rain or snow or be 70 degrees today. This happens to be the best of us. Including Paul.
He tells them that he is a prisoner for their sake. Think about being a Christian in Ephesus.
You are talking to your pagan friend and he says, “So you guys guys got a letter from that Paul guy? He must be pretty impressive. Is he a professor at Jerusalem University?”
You answer, a bit sheepishly, “No, actually he’s in jail.”
Your friend cocks his head and laughs, “Well then. I think I’ll stick with worshipping Artemis!”
Paul wants to make it clear that being in jail is for their good and God’s glory. It’s actually part of his calling.
He wrote to his young protege Timothy:
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” (2 Timothy 2:9)
Right as he begins his prayer, he stops and reminds them of his calling to steward the mystery of God. Much of what he writes next he has already said but now he wants to personally apply it.
Paul’s Stewardship: The Mystery
Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 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.
Paul’s life change and story were well known among the churches by this time. But he wanted to make sure that they understood why he was in jail and what his life purpose was.
In Ephesus, there were many “mystery cults,” that offered secret knowledge to the special few.
When Paul uses the word mystery, that is not what he means. The word mystery in the Bible means, “something that was once hidden but now has been disclosed.” Like the lineup of Summer Bash in Gibson City.
Paul always begins with his absolute wonder of grace that God has shown to him.
God had revealed the mystery to Paul, through the Damascus road conversion and the three years of teaching in the desert regions.
What is the mystery? Well, we already know! He’s told us multiple times.
The mystery is that God has an extraordinary plan to save people from every tribe, nation, and tongue.
The mystery is that Gentiles do not have to become Jewish to be reconciled to God. Jews and Gentiles alike are reconciled to God through the cross of Jesus Christ. And, through the cross, He destroyed the wall of hatred and hostility between the two to make a whole new thing - the church!
Paul assumes that the Ephesian congregation reads his words and he challenges us as well.
In reading this, we will be able to understand his insight into this mystery.
This plan was not made known to people in other generations. There were hints throughout the Old Testament that God would make a way for the Gentiles to be saved.
When God established His covenant with Abraham, he said, The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)
The prophets Isaiah spoke of Gentiles coming to faith but not with the same clarity, fullness, and precision of the New Testament apostles.
They knew that God would include the Gentiles, they just didn’t have a clue how.
Why did God take so long to make his plan clear? One of the reasons was to give Israel an opportunity to be a light to the Gentiles, something they never really cared to do:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the
tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)
There is a progression in Paul’s thought:
In reading the Scriptures about God’s mysterious plan we learn that God revealed this plan to the apostles, (those who had seen the risen Christ), they wrote letters and Gospels, we read, our hearts are enlightened by the Holy Spirit with wisdom and divine revelation to understand just how amazing the plan is!
Wayne Barber writes:
"God revealed something to Paul, not just for him, but for others to eternally benefit. God wants to do the same thing in your life. What He reveals in our hearts is never for just ourselves. It is always to be shared with someone else."
If we put together what we learned last week, the Gentiles were
without Christ now they are in Christ.
They were excluded from citizenship in Israel now they are “fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household.”
They were “foreigners to the covenants of the promise without God and without hope in the world.”
Paul gives three more descriptions of the Gentile believers:
“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 Gentiles are heirs together with Israel. They have been chosen, adopted, redeemed, forgiven, and sealed by the Holy Spirit.
They are “members of one body,” a Greek word that Paul made up. There are no longer Jewish Christians or Gentile Christians. They called themselves a third race -born-again, blood-brought Christians!
And these Gentiles, and us, share in the promises in Christ Jesus.
Paul ends this section by reminding them that he was a servant, literally, a slave, of “this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power.”
Paul writes to the Corinthians:
“What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task.” (I Corinthians 3:5)
Notice again how the grace was given to him. He didn’t deserve it. He couldn’t earn it. He is overwhelmed by grace.
The grace was an example of God’s power to change a human heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, from one that was dead in sins and one who has been made alive in Christ.
Paul wrote it is this grace and power that provided the energy of his calling to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.
“He is the one we proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me.” (Colossians 1:28-29)
Paul’s Service: Proclaiming the Mystery
“Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
Paul describes himself as the “least of all the Lord’s people.” Elsewhere, he calls himself the “least of the apostles” (I Corinthians 15:9) and he told Timothy:
"Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.” (I Timothy 1:15)
Wait? Wasn’t Paul brilliant, a scholar, a missionary? Surely, there were “worse” Christians, right?
This isn’t false modesty. He was simply remembering what he did before Jesus changed him. He hunted down Christians and had them imprisoned and killed.
Instead of being overwhelmed by guilt and shame, he was overwhelmed by the grace God had given him.
Bryan Chapell writes:
“Being enraptured by grace is the nature of Christian calling. Such an awe of grace certifies our calling is genuine and energizes it in the face of sacrifice. The truly called are so enraptured by the grace of God toward them that the attacks of others, the difficulties of circumstances, their lack of worldly comfort, and their lack of recognition in the world do not dissuade them from the joy of proclaiming Christ.”
Paul then writes of two main parts of his calling:
to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ.
Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, received the honor of being the missionary to the Gentiles. He gets to share with them the goodness of God’s plan and the unsearchable, or inscrutable, riches of Christ.
In other words, these riches never run out, they never come to an end.
Everything needed for their salvation has been provided and because of Christ’s death on the cross, the Gentiles are fully family with the Jewish believers!
We get to do the same thing today. There are people we know that are far from Jesus and we get to tell them that Jesus loves them and has done everything to bring them near and reconcile them to God.
Charles Spurgeon once said,
“I am bold to tell you that my Master’s riches of grace are so unsearchable, that He delights to forgive and forget enormous sin; the bigger the sin, the more glory to His grace.”
Remember, evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.
to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery which for ages past was kept hidden in God who created all things.
The phrase “make plain” literally means “to turn the light on.” It’s what Paul meant when he prayed in chapter 1:
“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.” (Ephesians 1:17-19)
This is part of the original calling of Paul on the Damascus Road:
"I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’” (Acts 26:17-18)
Let me remind you that without the Holy Spirit, the Gospel is foolishness to unbelievers. We must pray that God turns on the light, gives them antennae of faith, to hear the Gospel’s good news.
This mystery was hidden for ages past but now is revealed though…wait for it…the church!
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. in him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”
This is one of the most amazing verses in all the Bible!
The church is the means, in a dark and dying world, to show off the manifold wisdom of God.
The word “manifold” was used of many-colored cloth (Joseph’s robe) or flowers. God’s wisdom is like a diamond. Now matter which way you turn it in the light, you see different facets.
This wisdom, the plan that Gentiles would be accepted on the basis of the cross and not have to become Jewish, was not only displayed to this watching world but also to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, this means angels and demons!
Peter, when speaking of the Gospel, says, “Even angels long to look into these things.” (I Peter 1:12)
Look into the things can be translated “rubbernecking,” like people do when they drive past a wreck.
They are curious, fascinated, and marvel at God’s plan. Angels, having always been in God's presence, find the redemption of human sinners through Christ's death a profound mystery and demonstration of God's wisdom. They are not omniscient; they are actively learning about God's plan by watching the unfolding drama of the gospel on earth.
They recognize that the church is God’s plan A, his eternal purposes in Christ Jesus, and cheer us on.
On the other hand, the demons are not cheering but cursing.
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2:13-15)
The cross was their defeat and the church is their undoing.
When the local church is healthy and working correctly, it shows a watching universe God’s power to bring together all kinds of different people under the banner of the cross of Christ.
Kent Hughes write:“All of this demands a view of the Church so high that it challenges belief…our text calls us to recognize and revere the immense centrality of the church…the bottom line is, the church is not an option for believers, nor is supporting it an option…Paul’s gospel was Christ and the Church.”
Because of this power and our faith in Christ, both Jewish believers and Gentile believers do not have to approach the throne of God with fear and trembling but with “freedom and confidence.”
The writer of Hebrews encourages us as well:
“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)
Paul’s Plea: Don’t Lose Heart
Paul is now done with his parenthesis, his squirrel brain, returns to his original thought.
“I ask you, therefore, not be discouraged because of my suffering for you, which are your glory.”
Remember that this letter was being read out loud to the church. It would have been easy to lose heart over Paul’s imprisonment. Our pastor, our leader, is in jail in Rome and it isn’t fair.
But Paul reframes this and reminds them that he is suffering for them, for their sake. The Gentiles in Ephesians need to understand that there is someone, called and commissioned by God, that is standing up for them against the Jewish rulers who are opposing Paul’s message at every turn. He’s their champion. He’s their Chuck Norris.
His suffering will produce an eternal result - that Gentiles will be reconciled to God and spend eternity with brothers and sisters from every tribe, nation, and tongue worshiping the God of grace!
Paul’s Honor: Suffering
In Philippians, Paul wrote:
“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.”
The word “granted” literally means “graced,” a free gift of unmerited favor.
What has God graced us with?
He has given you the faith that you need to place your faith and trust in Christ.
Remember, we don’t accept Christ, He accepts us. We can’t save ourselves, He saves us.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 1:12-13)
Not only are we graced to have faith in him but also to suffer for Jesus.
Wait, what? That’s not a gift I asked for or would even want. Why would He give us the gift of suffering?
If you were to flip through religious programming on TV or the web, you would find a lot of the preachers hawking what we call the “prosperity Gospel.”
In this false Gospel, God is a cosmic vending machine that bows to your every whim and wants. His main desire is to make you happy, healthy, and wealthy.
If you just do the right things in the right way, which usually requires you to send them money, then a Lexus will drop out of the sky and your apple tree will start growing $50 bills. If you just have enough faith you will never be poor, or sick, or have anyone mistreat you.
The Bible just doesn’t teach this. Contained in the pages of Scripture is actually a very different gospel than that – the Gospel of persecution.
Peter wrote:
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. If you suffer, it should not be as a murderer or thief or any other kind of criminal, or even as a meddler. However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” (I Peter 4:12-16)
Paul wrote to his young preaching protégé Timothy:
“In fact, everyone who wants to live a Godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted…” (2 Tim 3:12)
Suffering is a crucible that God graciously puts us through in order to make us more like Jesus. It produces patience and perseverance.
James wrote:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” (James 1:2-4)
Steven Curtis Chapman’s music has been the soundtrack of my spiritual journey the last 35 years. His songs have seen me through the highest of highest and the valley of the shadow of death.
Steven and his family experienced one of the most traumatic events a human can.
While celebrating one of their son’s graduation from high school and his daughter’s engagement, his son went to get some more pop for the party.
When Maria, who was five saw Will Franklin, pulling back into the driveway, she ran out to meet him. He never saw her. She was killed instantly.
People on the outside looking in said, “Steven and Mary Beth have honored God at every turn. Steven could have crossed over to secular music and made a lot of money but he didn’t. They adopted three children from China. Why would God do that to them?
Not long after the event, Steven and Mary Beth appeared on Larry King.
He asked them if they were mad at God.
They both were honest:
“I really wasn’t angry at God,” he said. “And until you walk through that, I think I’m not sitting here saying, you know, ‘I’m so — we’re so strong and I made even a choice to do that.’ It was just my immediate natural reaction was — I mean I know I heard myself saying a lot, ‘God, You can’t ask this of me. You can’t ask this of my family. This is too much. We can’t do this.'”
Mary-Beth said:
“I’ve been mad. I’ve been sad,” she said. “I’ve jumped up and down. I’ve crawled under my bed. I’ve gone in my closet. You name it, I’ve done it. And I know that I will never understand, this side of eternity, why Maria, why Will. I have a list of questions in my journal, you know, ‘Why?’”
“Maria had the morning of the accident drawn a picture of a flower and had written a word that she had never written before. She knew how to write her name. That was all I had ever seen, and maybe ‘I love Dad’ or ‘I love Mom,'” Chapman said. “But she had never written any other words.
“And when she first died, Caleb and I, especially, kept saying if we could just see, if we could just have a dream, something, God, we’d believe it. If we could just see something that would tell us that she’s OK.
“And the day after the accident, we went home to get some clothes for the funeral, for the memorial,” he said. “Sitting on the art table was this little picture that Maria had drawn the morning of the accident. She had drawn a six-petaled flower, and only one petal was colored in. We have six children. Only one is whole now, we believe, in the arms of Jesus.
“She wrote the word S-E-E,” he said. “She wrote the word see. And she had never written that before. She was saying, ‘See, I’m good. I’m OK.’”
Their oldest, Caleb, said,
“And so the way I’m going to live my life from here on out is not be ashamed of what I’ve been created to do, and that’s just share the Gospel, share Maria’s story, and by sharing Maria’s
story, I get to share the hope that I found through tragedy.”
Steven has written many songs about the journey of grief they went through, including “This Moment”
“I’ve walked the valley of death’s shadow?So deep and dark that I could barely breathe?I’ve had to let go of more than I could bear?And questioned everything that I believe?But still even here in this great darkness?A comfort and hope come breaking through?As I can say in life or death God we belong to you.”
One of his songs that has helped me the most says exactly what Paul says at the end of our section today.
[Don’t Lose Heart - Steven Curtis Chapman]
Ending Song: He will Hold Me Fast
