If you turn in your Bibles this morning to Ephesians chapter 3, we'll continue on in this study of the book of Ephesians and as we have talked, we are seeking to build a community of grace. As we understand the book of Ephesians and as we understand how Paul has emphasized the doctrine of grace, it is important for us to act on that doctrine as believers in Jesus Christ. And so this morning, we are continuing our study in Ephesians chapter three. We looked at the first six verses last week where we saw Paul being mentioned as a steward of the mystery. a steward of the mystery. He was called to proclaim the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, first and foremost, but specifically the gospel of Jesus Christ to a Gentile world. And that's a shift in priority as far as the gospel is concerned as we move from the message of God being delivered to the Jew and now in the New Testament the mystery being unveiled and opened up so that now all of us can be partakers of that grace and the salvation that God has provided through his son Jesus Christ. And so this morning we're going to look at the next two points of this chapter, looking from verses 7 to verse 13, and we'll try and finish up the chapter today. But we're going to be talking about the riches of the mystery and then also the wisdom of the mystery. Those two things are going to be our points of emphasis this morning as we look at this passage of scripture. Let's pray together first and then we'll dive into the word. Father, I thank you for this morning. I thank you for the privilege that you've given us to gather together to worship you. Father, I pray that this morning that you might be heard, that you might be seen, and that you might be glorified. Father, we are a needy people. We come to you this morning with our frailties, and we come to you this morning with our deficiencies and our sinfulness, Father. We are so thankful for your grace. We're so thankful for the fact that you loved us so much, that you would send your son to die on the cross for our sins. Not that we deserved it, but it was because of your grace. And Father, we thank you for the mystery that has been opened up to us through your son, Jesus Christ. And this morning, as we open your word, speak to our hearts, I pray that your spirit might be here among us, bind Satan, keep our hearts and minds focused on you and fixed on you. And Father, I pray that we might leave this place this morning challenged in our hearts and rejoicing in what we've learned from your word. It's in your son's name we pray this morning, amen. Let's look at these verses starting with verse 7 down through verse 13 of chapter 3 of the book of Ephesians and let me read them again for us. Let me start with verse 1 just so that we get the context all the way down to verse 13. For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles, assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly. And when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 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. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise of Christ Jesus through the gospel. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, This grace was given to preach to the Gentiles the unmeasurable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. Here is the Apostle Paul, who was made a steward of the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, sharing his heart. As we said last week, these verses are kind of a parentheses. In verse 14, he picks up his prayer that he started in verse one. And in verse 14, he begins to pray for the church in Ephesus again. But here, Paul is giving us some insight into this mystery that has been revealed or been hidden for so many years and is now revealed through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What are the riches of the mystery? That's really what we are fascinated with. When we think of a mystery, we are thinking, you know, let's put all the pieces together. Let's make sure we have everything in line so that when we get to the end of this, we have a clear picture of what happened at that particular moment and as that mystery is being put together. And here is the Apostle Paul sort of working his way through this. Here is why and how I receive this stewardship. He says in verse seven that it was given to him. Of this gospel, I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me by the working of his power. Paul is reminded of that day on the road to Damascus when God spoke to him specifically and said, I have a plan and I have a purpose for your life. I am going to use you. I am going to tell you everything that you are going to say, and I am also going to reveal to you and open up this picture of what you are going to suffer on my account. I can't imagine that, but Paul takes that as a gift from God. It was given to me, the gift of God's grace, to be this minister, and I don't care what it cost me. I don't care what it takes. I don't care what happens in my life. I am willing to take up that mantle. I am willing to take up that profession that God has given me, that being a steward of the message of this mystery, the grace of God. So that's verse seven. Paul, again, sort of reiterates, this is my passion. This is what God has done for me. This is how God is using me. I am open to whatever God would want me to do. And so then in verse eight, Paul, again, emphasizes this point. To me, almost to the point where he is astonished that God would use him. And as we mentioned last week, I think Paul is reminded of the fact that he was a persecutor of the church. He was vehemently opposed to the church and he was putting people to death, putting them in jail. He was there to disrupt the church and to cause great pain to the church. And Paul says here in verse eight, to me, though I am the least of the apostles, of anybody, it shouldn't be me. Why me? This is God's grace. And as we mentioned last week, each one of us are stewards of the message of the gospel, of this mystery that needs to be proclaimed to a lost and dying world. And I think every one of us in this room would say, why me? Why me? There's somebody else that's better than me. There's somebody else that can speak more eloquently than I can. There are people who have better education than I do. You know, but why me? And Paul mentions that. I am the least of all the apostles. Why me? But Paul says, I'm thankful that God has called me. We read that all throughout Paul's letters. I am just thankful that I am the one. I am thankful that God provided me this opportunity. I am thankful that I have the privilege of being able to proclaim the message of the gospel. Paul says, even in my suffering in the last verse, he is in prison as he writes this book, or this letter to the church. He's saying, listen, this is no big deal to me. Because this is a special calling. This is what God has told me to do. And as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to be reminded of that over and over and over again. That we are the stewards of the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world. It needs to be It needs to be our very being. It needs to permeate every fiber of our being. If I claim the name of Jesus Christ, if I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sins, was buried and rose again, so that I might have an intimate, personal relationship with the God of the universe, and I have put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and I am calling myself a Christian, I need to be about the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Showing up for church is not about the work of Jesus Christ. There's so much that we need to do. There's so much that God has called us to do. And we become used to church. We become used to our Christianity. We become used to what we are supposed to do. As I mentioned, I came to know Christ when I was eight years old. I've been a believer for 52 years. I have been in church all of my life, literally. Every time the church doors were open, we were there. Some of you remember the two-week missions conferences and the two weeks of evangelistic meetings. And we were there for all of that. And you become accustomed to that. or that God might grab hold of us, and that God might revive us, and that we might have the joy of our salvation restored, that we might be thrilled with what God has done for us. As the Apostle Paul says, I don't know why me, but what a great privilege God has given me to be a messenger and a steward of the mystery of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and now I want to proclaim the riches of that mystery. And Paul uses a word here for the unsearchable riches of God in verse 8. It's a word that's only used two times in the New Testament. It's here and in Romans chapter 11 verse 33. It talks about this unsearchable truth. The Septuagint, which is the Greek Old Testament, uses this same word in the book of Job twice, when Job in chapter five, verse nine, and then in chapter nine, verse 11, where Job says, we just can't comprehend the creation of the world. We can't understand and comprehend the vastness of God's creation. And Paul here is trying to use a word that helps us to understand that these riches are immeasurable. We can't put a value on them. I remember watching some of those news shows when those people claimed the hundred billion dollar lottery ticket. I even forget how much it was. And they just couldn't comprehend all of a sudden being flooded with that amount of money. But what Paul's talking about here is greater than that. It's greater than anything that we can imagine. I was looking through some of the translations that I have. And there are There's a list of English equivalents to this Greek word that Paul uses. And each one of these translations is trying to sort of capture the essence without limiting the scope, if you know what I mean. There's a limit to each one of these words, but the authors are trying to give us that. In the ESV, King James NIV ASV, it is the unsearchable riches of God. In the contemporary English, it says that they are blessings that cannot be measured. In the New Century version, which are too great to fully understand. In the Moffat's translation, this fathomless wealth. In the New Century translation, the endless treasures. In the NASB, it is the unfathomable. riches of God. In the Holman Christian standard, the incalculable, wow, that's a tough one, riches. That's why he's the only one who uses that word. The amplified are the incomprehensible riches of God. In the common English, the immeasurable riches. And in the discovery, literal translation, it talks about the untraceable riches of God. Each one of these is just trying to put into perspective what Paul is trying to say about these riches that are available to us as believers in Jesus Christ, and we just don't tap into them. We just don't tap in to what we have as believers in Jesus Christ. And Paul is just trying to remind us, listen, brothers and sisters in Christ, we have an amazing message to tell. And as people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, now the riches, these incomparable, unsearchable riches are available to them also without limit. Be about the message of the gospel. Share the message of Christ. This word, again, if you look at Strong's Concordance or Young's, it says this, that they are not traced out. They are untraceable. They are past finding out. There is just no way in our limited thinking, in our capacity as human beings to even start to understand what God has given us through Jesus Christ. the unsearchable riches of Christ. That's just verse eight. What are these unsearchable riches? Let me just name a few. Paul in chapter 1 and chapter 2 sort of gives us an exposition of these things. Let me just run through these real quick for us. They are freely given at the cross. These riches are freely given at the cross. They include resurrection from the death of sin. We have this victorious enthronement with Christ in the heavenlies. We are reconciled with God. There's an incorporation with Jewish believers in this new society that God is creating. There is an end of hostility and the beginning of peace. There is access to the Father through Christ by the Holy Spirit. There is membership in his kingdom and household, being an integral part of his dwelling place among men. All of this is only a foretaste of what is yet to come, and more riches that are yet to be lavished on us, namely the riches of the glory of the inheritance which God gives us. Think about that. Think about that. Salvation is more than fire insurance. Salvation is more than I'm not going to hell when I die. Salvation is a relationship with the God of the universe, with the riches of heaven freely open to each and every one of us. How important that is. It's no wonder that Paul uses this word. God's riches are unsearchable and immeasurable. Can't even explain it. And he sums it up in one verse. Here's what it is, the unsearchable riches of God. And Paul was convinced that we should be what God has called us to be. that we should be preaching the message, that we should be stewards of that message to a lost and dying world. There are people around us that need to hear this message. They need to hear the truth of Jesus Christ. Paul in verse nine now makes a transition for us. And the transition is this. Excuse me. Before this in verse 8 and before verse 1 to verse 8, basically he's talking about the proclamation of the gospel. The word that he uses there helps us to understand that it is the announcement of the good news, this evangelism, the word that he uses, we get the word evangelism from. And he's just sharing that word, and he's saying we need to be proclaiming this. Verse nine, he changes it to fotizo, which is a word that means an enlightenment. Now I want you to understand this. I want this to dawn on you what this truly means. Verse nine is just not a reiteration of verse eight. Basically, there are three things that are significantly different between verse eight and verse nine. If you read those, it almost sounds like Paul is continuing on the same thought and just reiterating the same thought. To bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. So the first thing is this transition from the evangelistic portion of the gospel to this gain insight into the gospel of Jesus Christ. Start to understand the fullness of this gospel that is given. The second difference is the description of the message. The description of the message in verse 8 is that of the unsearchable riches of God. In verse 9 is the plan of this mystery. There is a plan. This just isn't something that God did. He's got a plan and He's got a program and He's working out that plan and program. And in verse eight, it's directed specifically to the Gentiles. And when we get to verse nine, it is directed to all men, Jews and Gentiles included. All of them coming together. And it's interesting how Paul finishes in verse nine. He says, this has been hidden in ages past. It's now been revealed in the person of Jesus Christ. in God who created all things. Paul is now starting to focus our attention on the church. The church was created by God. The church was created to be God's instrument in providing the message of the gospel to a world, to provide insight of that mystery of the gospel to the world. And God is going to use the church to proclaim the message. God created all things. God created the church. Paul is writing to the church, isn't he? The book of Ephesus isn't to, or the book of Ephesians is not to one person. It is the church in Ephesus and in that region. And now the church is the steward of the message of the gospel. We as members of the church of Jesus Christ are stewards of the message of the gospel to the world around us. So the riches are immeasurable, unsearchable. There's no way we could get our mind around it, but we need to be about the proclamation of the gospel and helping people to understand what benefit there is in knowing Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Verses 10 through 13 talk about the wisdom of the mystery, and we'll quickly move through this. The mystery that Paul is writing about is not a theory, but it's already taken place. This phenomenon, the church, is starting to grow. This church is just in its infancy, but we can see it's spreading around the known world. It is having great impact and great influence on the world. And so this mystery and the wisdom that comes from that is God's and God's alone. because he has this plan, and he is working out this plan. And so the wisdom of this mystery is we need to be about the work of God. Paul uses a word here also that's the manifold wisdom of God. He could have used any other word, but he uses manifold witness, which means basically multicolored, multifaceted. If you would read the Septuagint and you would read about Joseph's coat of many colors, this was the word that was used to describe, a simpler form of this word, was used to describe Joseph's coat of many colors, multi-colored. And God's wisdom is multi-colored. His plan for the church is multi-faceted. and we might sort of fit our thoughts into this is the way church should be done, this is what church should look like, this is what our church should look like, but the reality is God is saying the church of Jesus Christ is multi-colored, multi-faceted, multi-ethnic, let me put it that way because that one's easier to say, and it reflects who God is. God is the God of all people. The message of the gospel of Jesus Christ is to all people. I've had the privilege to travel a little bit, and the message of the gospel is the same in Malawi, Africa, as it is in Estonia. It's the same as it is in Guatemala. It's the same as what it was in Columbus, Ohio. It's the same in Waterloo, Iowa. God's plan might look different around the world, and the church might look a little bit different. And God's wisdom is multifaceted, but the gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly the same, isn't it? I could preach in a church in Malawi and talk about the fact that we are all sinners and we're separated from God, and except by putting my faith and trust in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, there is no way that I have access to God or the hope of eternal life. Because Jesus said, I am the only way, the only truth, and the only life. Nobody comes to the Father except through Him. That means exactly the same in Malawi, Africa, as it does here in Waterloo, Iowa. means the same in Estonia, means the same in Guatemala, means the same in Liberia, means the same in France. That is the message of the gospel, but it looks different all over the world. The manifold wisdom of God as he brings everyone together, as he breaks down those walls of partition and those things that so easily separate us in our humanity And in our selfishness, God brings it all together through his son, Jesus Christ, and the truth of the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. What Paul is expressing here is that God in his manifold wisdom has created a church that is multifaceted, multicultural, multicolored, and is a reflection of God himself. John Stott puts it this way. So then as the gospel spreads throughout the world, this new and variegated Christian community develops. It is as if a great drama is being enacted. History is the theater, the world is the stage, the church members in every land are the actors. God himself has written the play and he directs and produces it. Act by act, scene by scene, the story continues to unfold. But who are the audience? Well, Paul goes on to say, as we read down through verse 10, that he has made this known to the rulers and authorities in heavenly places. They are the cosmic, they are the cosmic intelligences. the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, and we are to think of them as spectators of the drama of salvation. Thus the history of the Christian church becomes a graduate school for angels. I have a book on my shelf that says, What Angels Wish They Knew. We read in Peter that angels look on these things and they wonder, they don't understand what God has done for mankind. So the lesson taught is the biblical centrality of the church and God's plan being unveiled not only to us here on earth, but also to these principalities and powers in heavenly places. We can say that God has not abandoned the church no matter how displeased he may be with it. He is still building and refining the church. And how are we as believers in Jesus Christ being built up and refined in our relationship with Jesus Christ? Oh, that God might grab hold of our hearts. That God may grab hold of our lives. and transform us and continue to shape us and mold us into the image of his son, Jesus Christ. You see, God has made us stewards of his gospel. He has a plan for his church. He wants to use us as believers to be his voice and his light in a dark world. Are we ready to do that? We see the Church of Jesus Christ in America declining in many places. At the state meetings we heard about Burton and we knew about Burton just because they were in town, but there are other churches in our association that are closing, folding, because of lack of lack of attendance. There's some mega churches. There are churches that are growing. Those account for about 10% of the Christian community. But the reality is that the average church in America is about 124 people. And it doesn't take long for those 124 people to start to, you know, just think of us over these past few weeks. Since I've been here, I've had 17 funerals. I mean, it's just an amazing number. And if we're not replenishing the ranks, if we're not out sharing the message of Jesus Christ, if we aren't fulfilling the commission that God has called us to, as believers in Jesus Christ, to share the message that God has given us will be another statistic. And I pray to God that that isn't the case. I pray to God that God revives our hearts, changes our lives, challenges us through his word. Most people aren't going to walk in off the street to come to church. Not in this day and age. Most people that live around us don't have a church background. They never grew up in church. What they see is us. And if this book is not making a difference in our lives and transforming our lives and changing our lives and affecting our lives, it's not gonna mean a thing to people outside of this building. My prayer is that God gets a hold of us, that his word transforms us, and we are about sharing the message of Jesus Christ. We have 210 names, at least, up here on these boards. And my prayer is we take seriously praying for every person that these tags represent. that God gives us opportunities and the boldness to share the message of Jesus Christ because he has called us to be stewards of that message. I was just reading through some of the condolences that came in for my father-in-law, even this morning, and one of them said, I'm sure God said, when your father-in-law got to heaven, enter, well done, thou good and faithful servant. My prayer is that God would say that for each and every one of us. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. I've entrusted you with a little, and you did a lot with it. But we can say that God has not abandoned his church, as I've already said. The church is central to history, this church is central to the gospel, and the church is central to Christian living. We come here to be encouraged, to be edified, to learn so that we can go out and do the work of the ministry. Oh, my prayer is that we would take hold of this mystery that God has revealed to us through his word, My prayer is that we would take seriously our relationship with Jesus Christ and be ready to give an account for the hope that is within us. That we would be ready and willing to share the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. If, like Paul, we keep before us the vision of God's new society as his family, his dwelling place, his instrument in the world, then we shall be constantly seeking to make the church, the church's worship more authentic, its fellowship more caring, and its outreach more compassionate. In other words, like Paul, we should be ready to pray, ready to work, and if necessary, suffer in order to turn this vision into a reality. May it start here at Walnut Ridge. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for the challenge of your word. Father, I pray that it might not just be words on a page or words spoken this morning, but that your spirit, your Holy Spirit might take your word and apply it to our lives so that we might be the stewards of the gospel that you have called us to be. We love you, Father. We thank you for your grace in our lives daily. Father, I pray that we might be about the work that you have called us to do as a church. There's a world that needs to hear the message. And I pray that we might be about sharing that message to a dark world. It's in Christ's name we pray, amen.