A Digression? Actually, a Call to Worship
By revelation he made known unto me the mystery … which in
other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs,
and of the same body,
and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. (Ephesians 3:3,5-6)
You and I
refer to them as “digressions” – little trains of thought that trickle away
from our main argument – and speech coaches warn us against them. “Don’t
digress!” our instructors always told us in school. “Stick to the point.”
Well, you might not want to call your
rhetoric teacher, because this morning’s text – Ephesians 3:1-6 – is part of a
digression by the Apostle Paul. He has just finished describing the Gentiles’
equal inclusion into the family of God, and he’s about to begin a prayer for
the Gentile Christians. Paul puts that prayer on hold, however, until verse 14.
In these verses, he digresses. You
would too if you considered the divinely revealed mystery that Paul is
proclaiming: that you and I, hopeless Gentiles, would be included in God’s plan
of salvation. This mystery – by definition, something hidden in times past but
now revealed – changes life trajectories. It comes directly, and only, from the
Lord God. And most important, it gives hope to the hopeless.
In view of the wonder of our Sovereign
Lord’s plan of salvation, Paul’s words here aren’t so much a digression as a
call to daily worship.
Paul takes time to discuss the “mystery
of Christ,” first, because this mystery changes life trajectories.
The passage begins with Paul drawing
on the previous verses: “for this reason” – that is, because believing Gentiles
are among the family of God right alongside believing Jews – he will pray for
their growth (verse 14). Yet before he moves on, Paul can’t help but consider
how amazing this mystery is. He unusually employs personal pronouns in the
Greek (“I, Paul” and “you Gentiles”), perhaps because he’s amazed at how God
changes lives and plans and eternal destinies by the message of Jesus.
Remember Saul? Saul was Paul in his
previous life, when he as a faithful Pharisee hated Christ, hated Christians
and surely viewed Gentiles as dogs. Now, though, he we know him as Paul the
“prisoner of Jesus Christ for (the) Gentiles.” What a change in plans! Paul
became captive to the One he once detested, and he literally followed Jesus’
call to do the heretofore unthinkable: preach salvation to the Gentiles and go
to prison for Jesus’ sake.
As Paul preached Christ to the
Gentiles, his Jewish enemies grew incensed and accused him of inciting a riot.
He wound up in prison and ultimately was executed for his Christian witness.
All this because of the dispensation of God’s grace to Paul: God’s undeserved
goodness in Christ to awaken Paul to who Jesus was as Messiah, to Paul’s own
sinful nature, to cause Paul believe in Christ as Savior and to follow wherever
Jesus led.
Paul, who once sought the imprisonment
and death of Christians, now was the prisoner of Jesus. He once was doomed for
Hell but now, by God’s sovereign grace, was destined for glory with Christ.
This sort of transformation is mysterious, and it comes about by the mysterious
working of God in the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is the great wonder of the Gospel
– that Jesus would save you and me, who deserve the punishment in Hell that he
endured for us. This mystery changes life trajectories and takes us from
hopeless to hopeful. It might even take you and me to prison, as it does so
many believers today in China.
Do you see yourself as the prisoner of
Jesus? Do you grasp the wonder of the Gospel transformation in your life? Or
are you unwilling to follow where Christ leads, imprisoned to worldliness
rather than to the Lord God?
If you truly know the power of the
Gospel, you (like Paul) will be proud to be the prisoner of Jesus, whose grace
changes everything.
Paul takes time to consider this
mystery, second, because it comes directly and only from the one true God.
The mystery of which Paul speaks –
that Gentiles would be fellow-sharers in the Gospel blessings of Jesus Christ –
wasn’t made known to human beings in prior generations. To be sure, Moses
recorded God’s covenant with Abraham to bless all nations through him, and
Isaiah (among others) prophesied of the light of God’s truth going out to all
the nations. In the main, though, the Old Testament was focused on Israel, for
only Israel had the Word of God and possessed an intimate knowledge of the
Maker of Heaven and earth. To man’s way of thinking, the Gentiles essentially
were doomed to Hell.
Now, however, the Spirit of God has
made known the eternal plan of God – once concealed, now manifested – to
include Gentiles in the family of God through adoption in the Son of God. This
is, Paul says, his commissioning from the Lord. By implication, it is not his
own contriving, nor could man ever have thought up such a glorious plan of
redemption (as Peter also says in his second epistle). The Holy Spirit revealed
(literally “pulled back the veil”) this truth to His holy, set-apart apostles
and prophets (who inhabited an office that now has ceased, but who confirmed
the truth of God in the early days of the church), and they have given it to us
in Holy Scripture. Paul had an understanding of this revealed truth – the word
for “understanding” refers to putting the revealed facts together and thus
comprehending God’s instruction – and if the Ephesians would read 1:9-10 and
2:11-22 prayerfully and thoughtfully, they too could understand this mystery.
There is much in these verses that
troubles you and me today. For one, we don’t always like the idea that those
different from us – in really unimportant ways, I might add – could be a part
of the church. We draw distinctions between sinners that God doesn’t draw (“Oh,
he’s a former thief … we don’t want him here!”), and we mark off churches as
“white” or “black” or “Hispanic” in a way that God doesn’t. What is more, to
understand how the Lord gives all believers hope in Christ requires the reading
and serious study of his Word. Remember, the Ephesians needed to read and to
thoughtfully consider Paul’s words to them. In this age of convenience, sound
bytes and Google, you and I don’t take the time we admittedly have to study the
Word. Sitting down and thinking requires too much of us. And there is yet
another aspect to Paul’s teaching here that we don’t like: we’re not keen on
leaning on God’s Word alone for the saving message of Jesus. You see, Paul is
at pains to underscore God’s initiative in revealing this mystery to him and,
thus, to all men. It’s not a man-made, conjured-up, feel-good plan a la Oprah
and Dr. Phil. This is Truth, and it comes only from God.
Let us thank Him for it!
Third, Paul reflects on this mystery
because it gives hope to the hopeless.
In verse 6 the apostle uses three
parallel words beginning with the prefix “with” to describe believing Gentiles
as fellow partners in the family of God with believing Jews. He says you and I
are “fellow heirs” with the Jews, which means we may look forward to a New
Heavens and a New Earth along with God’s saints of old. We in Christ inherit
the blessings of God’s Fatherly forgiveness, chastisement, protection and love,
and we look forward to a Heavenly dwelling with Him forever. This future hope –
and present reality! – not only give you something to look forward to past
Freeman Funeral Home; they also give you a reason to live in the here and now
(as Paul observes in 1 Corinthians 15:58). Recently I was reading a memoir
about running by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami, and in it he expresses
his doubt of eternal life (in Heaven or in Hell). This agnosticism about
eternity leads Murakami to adopt an almost fatalistic, depressed view of the
meaninglessness of the here-and-now.
Not you and me. We Christians are
heirs of Heaven, which means we live preparatory and anticipatory and meaningful
lives now.
Paul also says you and I are fellow
members of the same body – the body of Christ. This teaching means that you –
yes, you! – are a vital part of Jesus’ church, and you have a critical role to
play in the life of the church catholic and specifically of this branch of her
planted in Leakesville. We need you, just as the hand needs the arm and the
eyes need the legs. If you sometimes wonder if you have a place in this church
or should be doing anything in the world for Jesus’ sake, Paul here gives you
your answer: yes, and yes.
The apostle also teaches that you and
I are fellow-sharers in God’s promises through the Gospel of Christ. Of course,
a few verses before (in chapter 2) Paul had said we Gentiles historically were
strangers to the covenants of promise. We had no hope of a Savior coming to
redeem us from our sins. History was nothing more than a clock counting down to
our judgment to Hell, which we deserved for our idolatry. But now in Christ,
you and I have been made partakers of God’s promised mercy and life in Jesus,
and we specifically enjoy the promised Spirit of God, who lives in us and
encourages us in living fully for the Lord.
Perhaps the most-amazing part of this
mystery that Paul describes is that you and I, once considered dogs by the
Jews, consigned to gathering scraps under Jesus’ table, have an assured seat at
the Wedding Supper of the Lamb in glory. No wonder Paul stops – “digresses” –
and meditates on God’s amazing grace.
Thank the Sovereign Lord that He, in
His wisdom, led St. Paul to digress from his prayer for the Ephesians.
Thank God, because in these verses –
this “digression,” for all you rhetoricians – you and I learn of the mysterious
wonder of the Gospel. This Gospel changes eternal destinies and life
trajectories, taking us (in God’s blessing) where we never thought we’d go.
This Gospel comes only from God, but He has revealed it so that you and I may know
Him and His precious Son. And this Gospel means that in Jesus, you and I are
equal to every other believer, with equal hope and with equal work to do in the
Kingdom. Only God could bring you this kind of comfort, hope and purpose.
Call these verses a “digression” if
you must. Take them seriously, and they in fact call you to love the Lord your
God.
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