The Mystery Revealed Series

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?”