The Mystery Of The Gospel Revealed Series

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD, USA

www.mycrossway.org

View this and other messages at: https://mycrossway.churchcenter.com/channels/8118

Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was a physician. As such he was very interested in the use of ether. In order to know how his patients felt under its influence, he once had a dose administered to himself. As he was going under, in a dreamy state, a profound thought came to him. He believed that he had suddenly grasped the key to all the mysteries of the universe. When he regained consciousness, however, he was unable to remember the revelation.

Because of the great importance, this thought would be to mankind, Holmes arranged to have himself given either again. This time, he had a stenographer present to take down the great thought. The either was administered and sure enough, just before passing out, the insight reappeared. He mumbled the words, the stenographer took them down, and he went to sleep.

Upon awakening, he turned eagerly to the stenographer and asked her to read what he had uttered. To which, she read his every word: "The entire universe is permeated with a strong odor of turpentine."

One of the great terms in the Apostle Paul’s letters is the word mystery. When we talk about Christianity we don’t really, usually, talk about things that are mysterious because the Christian truth is revealed in the Word of God. In contemporary English, it is something unknown. But this is not the meaning “mystery” had in Paul’s day. In Greek, the word mysterion (from which we get our word) refers to something known only to the initiated. It is not that the thing itself is unknown. It is known—but only to those to whom it is revealed.

In the first two chapters in Ephesians Paul revealed some of the loftiest truths in theology. In chapter 1, he exposed the blessings that flow to Christians in that we are recipients of every spiritual blessing from God. As Paul completed chapter 1, he prayed to God that we might know the hope to which God has called us, the riches of our inheritance as his people, and the resurrection power available to us in Christ, who now reigns in heaven for our sakes.

In chapter two he displayed the glory of our salvation through Jesus Christ. We were dead in sin but have now been ‘made alive together with Christ’ (v. 5). Salvation is a gift of God’s grace, Paul wrote, received through faith alone, and that it always results in a life of good works. We are now ‘God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works (Eph. 2:10). In the second half of Chapter 2, Paul shows us that we are brought together as fellow citizens in Christ. Now we come to chapter 3 and find a powerful message about Paul in these amazing truths:

?1, For this reason, I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 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. (Ephesians 3:1–6 ESV)

1. For This Reason… I Pray

Now we have to understand something about the layout of Paul’s thoughts here. In verse 1, Paul says, “For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles—” Paul starts to talk about something that’s on his heart. “For this reason...,” and then he pauses his initial thought and moves into another. He’s talking about being a prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of the Gentiles, and he stops in mid-sentence and digresses with a parenthetical statement from verse 2 all the way down to verse 13, wherein verse 14, he picks back up his original intention: “For this reason [I, Paul, a prisoner on behalf of you Gentiles] bow my knees before the Father.”

Before he can pray for them, he stops and says, ‘Church, you must understand that the fulfillment of the prayer depends upon you understanding the truth of the gospel. This truth that is so profound, Paul is willing to be imprisoned (Remember that he is writing this letter from a Roman jail awaiting trial by Caesar) and even die to his own priorities and himself. Remember that the Apostle Paul was once Saul, the Pharisee who persecuted Christians (Acts 22:1-5). The name Saul came from the name of the first King of Israel who was chosen for his strength, stature, and popularity. Paul, on the other hand, means “small.” He goes from “Big Saul” to Small Paul” and it is no accident.