(silence) - Hello, church family. Would you please take a moment to pray with me as we jump into God's word, continue the study, the book of Ephesians. Let's pray. Our God, we thank you so much that so far in the study of the book of Ephesians, we have been hearing and learning about your incredible love that has been lavished upon us.

God, we have been learning about your intent, your heart's desire, and the goal that you have to show forth your rich, rich mercies. And I pray, God, that by faith we would hear and receive, and by faith, God, we would respond with gratitude, and God, we continue on to study.

Amen. I pray that your spirit would bless our heart, our mind, and cause us, Father, Lord, to live by faith, that perhaps though our lives may be discouraging, full of worry, and God, constantly a threat, Lord, that we absolutely trust in you. Lord, God, we lift up a prayer for all those individuals going through difficult times right now, going through worrisome moments.

We pray, Father, that you would encourage them, and you, Lord, in your very presence, we would be their solid rock. We thank you, it's in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Well, as we continue the study of Ephesians, we want to take a moment to review again. In the previous passage in chapter two, we finished off a segment that really highlighted different elements of the gospel, right?

In the beginning portion of chapter two, we recall that Apostle Paul showed us who we were before, that prior to, we were formerly absolutely dead in our transgressions and sins. And he showed us that we were objects of wrath, children of wrath, and just like the rest, right, complete in disobedience and suppressed by so many evil forces.

And then to teach us that we've been made alive in Christ. And then in the second half of that chapter, he showed us that formerly we were completely far off, but now we've been brought near by the blood of Christ. And at the tail end of that, Apostle Paul turned from the personal salvation in Christ, and he turned to what that means for us collectively as a church, what God is doing through all of that, and the ramifications of what that makes us.

And what we learned was that God was causing us to be built up together as a household of God. Metaphorically and spiritually, we're supposed to be a temple, and surprisingly, he said, in connecting us to the many saints of old, that we were going to be the dwelling place spiritually for the Lord.

And so that to us is actually a magnificent, you can say an incredibly epic, epic privilege that we would desire to be near, or that God would even desire to be near us. So with that said, we take a look at the structure of what our passage says today.

Now, before I read our passage, I want to highlight that there is an interesting structure to this because there is a pause and a break. What I mean by that is, verse one, Apostle Paul begins this thought. For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, and then he pauses.

So it's an incomplete beginning portion of a thought saying essentially, I'm praying for you, but then he stops. And that thought actually picks up later on in verse 14. So it's not going to be for another two weeks that we're going to actually get to the thought he introduces.

And essentially, the introductory thought is that he is praying for us so that we would know all the things that he is talking about. So then there is this weird, interesting section in verse 2 to 13, where he takes a parenthetical pause. But in this pause, we read, essentially, Apostle Paul wants to make sure that we actually have heard and understand.

And so he essentially, in my own way, I like to hear, I like to say, Apostle Paul asks the question, did you really hear me? He's taking a moment's pause to say, if indeed this is actually true of you, that you heard this stuff. And so let's take a moment to read our passage.

The word on the screen is going to be a bit small, so please make sure you follow along in your Bibles. He says this, "For this reason, I, Paul, "the prisoner of Christ Jesus, "for the sake of you Gentiles, "if indeed you have heard of the stewardship "of God's grace, which was given to me for you, "that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, "as I wrote, which in other generations "was not made known to the sons of men, "as it now has been revealed to his holy apostles "and prophets in the spirit.

"To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs "and fellow members of the body, "and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus "through the gospel, of which I was made a minister "according to the gift of God's grace, "which was given to me according to the working "of his power." Now this next section we're going to study in the next week, but let me read it for the full context of the passage.

He says, "To me, the very least of all saints, "this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles "the unfathomable riches of Christ, "and to bring to light what is the administration "of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in God, "who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God "might now be made known through the church "to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

"This was in accordance with the eternal purpose "which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, "in whom we have boldness and confident access "through faith in him. "Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart "at my tribulations on your behalf, "for they are your glory." So as we take a look at that, I want to give you an essentially an overview structure, 'cause essentially we need to see that overview, right?

And what you see here, again, I mentioned that verse two to 13, two to 14, you could arguably say, is a parenthetical pause to take a moment to think about what has been said. He says at the beginning portion of this passage, "For this reason," right? And when he says, "For this reason," he is talking about all the incredible truth that he has already expounded on and explained so far.

So far, he's been telling us that the gospel that has been given to us is so rich, that the blessings of God are so many. It's been lavished upon us. And what's more, those blessings has such intentionality, but also a meticulous plan to it, to the degree that God is causing us to be built up into a unique house, a dwelling place of God.

And therefore, he says, he's praying for us. Now, after saying that, within this parenthetical statement, essentially he says, "If then indeed, "you've heard the stewardship of God's grace, "which was given to me for you." Essentially what he's doing then is, he's taking a moment to pause. And what he's expecting is that we, the hearers, and the church that is his immediate audience, as a matter of fact, actually heard and understand.

And so I highlight for you those specific statements in verse two, "If indeed you have heard," and what's more, verse four, "By referring to this," he's saying, "By saying this, "when you read, you can understand." Okay, I wanna take a moment to reflect and meditate on that a little bit.

Because sometimes there is a need for us to pause and ask, do I really understand what he's saying? Do I sufficiently, I know I'm not gonna understand everything, but do I sufficiently appreciate? Am I impacted, am I actually moved by what he's been saying? Because that is exactly what he's doing, is it not?

When he challenges the hearer, essentially, by saying, "If you actually heard, "and by saying this, that you might read and understand." And so what's really interesting is, he says, "If you understand this mystery." And what I see in this passage is Apostle Paul essentially doing a quick stack up.

And the reason why I say it's a stack up is because there are a couple of statements just to stack up on each other. If you really heard the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to me for you, this revelation that was made known to, sorry, that by revelation, there was made known to me the revelation.

I wrote this before. By referring to this, I know you should be able to read and to understand. And so essentially, there's a stack up, this kind of like repeated, same kind of message, a statement that perhaps doesn't need to be repeated, but he does so for the sake of effect.

Do you actually understand what I'm saying to you? Okay, so let's take a moment just from the get-go to meditate upon that, because I believe this is the purpose why Apostle Paul takes a parenthetical pause. That's what he's actually trying to do. Do you understand? Right? I mean, for us too, we can actually say that in many ways, we hear, especially the gospel being expounded in many ways, different facets of the gospel being highlighted to us.

And is it always the case that we understand on first hearing? Is it always the case that we actually receive it and appreciate it as we ought to? Probably not. So actually, it's good for us to take a moment to pause and ask the question, do I really understand and receive everything that we've been saying?

And now take a moment to think about this. Earlier, I did a quick review, but my question to you is, are you able to really meditate, chew on, and have that kind of thought reverberating in your minds about all the things that was already taught us in chapter one and two?

So far, we've had so much teaching. We've had eight weeks of teaching on the incredible blessings of God that has come through Christ, that everything is in Him. To me, they were like mind-blowing moments. If you actually took time to sit and then think, to think about how intentional God is with His love, that none of this is by happenstance.

None of this is by us saying, God, I have this great idea. If you could only do this for me, then it would be really great. Well, that's not how it's working, is it? From before we were born, God had designed His salvation, and His redemption has been meticulously unfolded throughout the passing of time.

And what's more, we studied how God lavishly exercised His power towards us, His grace towards us, His strength towards us, and ultimately that He would unite us with Christ so that in Christ, we would die in our sin, we would die in our bondage, and we'd be made alive.

We studied how we were so dead, and yet, and we were also, because of that deadness, relationally so far, but in the great mercies of God, He's made us alive and He's brought us together. Now, I'm repeating certain things again myself, but my question is, if after hearing all that stuff, let's say that our hearts have this little bit of a shrugs mentality.

Let's say our minds aren't actually, I mean, it's not so much that your mind has to be blown every single time, but shouldn't there be a stirring? Shouldn't there be an appreciation? Shouldn't there be a wonder of like, whoa, right? A bare minimum. But if there is perhaps a sentiment where we say, "And you have access to God, "and you kind of, okay, heard that, I get it," then perhaps we don't understand.

Then perhaps we don't actually get it. And the thing about it is, I think this is a good moment to check our hearts, because I don't think Apostle Paul is just pointing at our ears and asking the question, "Did you hear me?" Like, for example, when we were young, and our parents looked at us and said, "Did you hear me?" I'm pretty sure they weren't asking if our ears are defective, if our ear drums were hurt, right?

'Cause the fact of the matter is, there are so many reasons why sometimes we actually don't hear. Again, like children, sometimes we just simply don't hear because we're absolutely preoccupied with the stuff that we're doing. And as a matter of fact, perhaps we might have even said, someone yelled a command to us, someone called for our name, and was like, "You know what?

"Sorry, I was too busy. "I was caught up in my own thing." Is that, for us, where we are? Perhaps sometimes we might hear something else, but before responding, we look around, are other people responding? And maybe that's us. We're always playing the safe card, and looking to see, are other people taking this really seriously?

This idea that because you were absolutely dead, your life is completely belonging to Christ, and you owe everything to Him, and that you are now a slave of God Almighty? Let's see if other people do that first, right? I mean, if you ever have had siblings, sometimes you do that.

Like, let's see if my older brother will go first, right? Sometimes we just don't think it's important. We have other pressing matters. Those are all like worldview issues. Those are all heart issues. And we want to make this a point for us, that if he's taking a parenthetical moment, a pause in his, as he's saying, "I'm praying, I'm working for you.

"I'm a servant of this cause to bring you into the church, "and cause you to be one unto God." And he's like, "Wait, I need to make sure. "Did you hear me?" And let's ask the question, did I hear God? Chapters one through two, did I really appreciate everything that has been said?

Or is there a weird, strange, perhaps hardened heart that says, "It's the big deal. "I've heard that a thousand times. "How does that help me? "Whoop-de-doo." And if we're thinking that way, we absolutely have to check our hearts. Why, if we actually believe we were the scum of the earth, destined for wrath and to be burned, and yet we were invited into the household of God, why does that not affect me?

Why does that not make my heart all the more thirsty for this great love that God has? What's going on? Now, this really matters. This really matters. Not just because of for us, because I think that if what God is doing here is properly understood as Apostle Paul is understanding it, then there is absolute good reason why Apostle Paul is making sure that we understand.

Because if we don't get it, then we may be offending God. We may be offending God. Sometimes our world, our personal view of self, and our view of the world is so narcissistic. It's so focused, we have no idea what we're doing to God. It's like that when we're kids.

Sometimes we say things, we have no idea how it hurts our parents, has no idea how it hurts our spouses, has no idea how it hurts our friends. It could be like that with us and God. That relationally, if God is revealing to us so far in chapters one and two, how much he has poured out in his strength, in his love, and in his power to love us.

And yet, if any bit of that just completely goes over our heads, it completely goes in one ear and out the other, and we shrug, think about how offensive that could be. And the way I wanna describe it is that what we see in verses two through seven so far, and in this section, is going to be an incredible revelation of God.

The way I like to put it is, there is a reveal party of God. There is a reveal party of God. And at this party, it is our job, it is also the respectful thing, it is the appropriate manner and behavior to be all ears, to be all attentive, and be moved by what he's revealing.

Think about this, if you were at a, nowadays it's really cool to do all kinds of reveal parties, engagement parties, but imagine if you were at this special reveal party of the king, when they're about to have a baby, right? They're about to have a baby and they're gonna reveal the gender.

They have this kind of pageantry, they have some decorations, they have snacks and desserts and refreshments, and special people are there, special honored guests are there. And they're about to call in everybody and say, "Hey, everybody, I know you're just hanging out "with each other now, but come together.

"We're going to have the reveal. "What's the gender of the baby?" And they're gonna pop massive balloons and see the powder come out in different colors, right? But imagine if you were so narcissistic and you were saying, "Meh, why am I even here?" Right? And imagine if you just said, "You know, I'm so thirsty.

"Where's the cooler? "Where are the drinks? "How does that even help me get my drink?" Right? It just shows you your mind is not in the right place. Just shows you you're completely out of touch with what's going on. But the important part I wanna say is, how rude it would be to the main host of the party.

How rude it would be to the king. How rude it would be for you to sit there and be like, "Oh, what kind of party this, "making everybody stop so we pay attention "to this balloon popping?" That would be very, very rude. And so with that said, I wanna move into the next section, which is this, the mystery.

The mystery. Clearly we can tell that the focal point of this passage is the term mystery. This mystery, aka is the stewardship of God's grace. This mystery, aka is an administration. This mystery is a plan of God. It's his meticulously designed and coordinated event, so to speak, with the revelation of God's plan of redemption for the Gentiles too.

Think about this. There is this mystery being made known, and it's repeated multiple times here. Take a look at that slide I have, and it says, "Indeed, you have heard "of the stewardship of God's grace, "which was given to me for you, "that by revelation there has been made known to me "this mystery.

"As I wrote before in brief by referring to this, "when you heard," sorry, "when you read, you can understand my insight "into the mystery of Christ." And so we see that, and what's more, we see it in other parts of scripture where Apostle Paul uses this term so many times.

Why? Because the mystery, he is describing the gospel. He is describing the plan of God. And so throughout Paul's writing, he mentions that term mystery 20 times. In the gospels, it's repeated seven times. Now, the tricky thing about this is that in our English language, it is typically translated something like unknown, right?

It's a mystery, something you'll just never figure out because it's too hard, right? Like long time ago, there was this funny commercial, where this little boy goes to Mr. Al and says, "Mr. Al, how many licks does it take "to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?" And then the commercial ends because everybody is so prone to crunch on the lollipop, we'll never find out.

No one knows, right? That's typically what mystery, people think, means. It's an unsolved mystery. But that's not what mystery actually refers to. Mystery is more so talking about something that is a secret. Okay, so more like in tune, a synonym would be secret, right? Essentially, when it was talking about learning a secret or knowledge of a secret, a fact, then that would be a mystery.

Other passages of Scripture talk about how there is this great mystery that is to be disclosed or manifested. So yes, it can be hidden, and that's why we don't know, but that doesn't mean it's some kind of paradox or some kind of anomaly. What it means is that it is a truth, such a profound truth.

It's not just common knowledge. It's not just your everyday universal fact, but it's something that God has in His heart. It's His plan that is to be revealed. And so that's the term. And if you look at the passage then, and look at all the terms that refer to something that was hidden, concepts of revelation, concepts of revealing something, it's all throughout this passage.

If indeed you heard the stewardship of God's grace, which was given, okay, it's by revelation. It was made known to me, this mystery. I wrote it to you. You're supposed to read and understand my insight to this mystery. And what's more, for generations it was not known, but now it's revealed to the holy apostles and the prophets whose main job is to preach and make known the will of God.

So all around this passage is talking about a knowledge of God that has been made known to us. Now, what's important for us then is to remember that God in His sovereignty has chosen to hide His truth for certain times. And as the time is full according to His own measure, then He is going to reveal.

You and I so live in an incredibly blessed time. Seriously. And it's not because we live in America. It is not because we happen to live in Irvine or Orange County, which happens to be one of the best places to live in America, but because we live in a time when the word of God is given, Christ's work has been seen.

And now we can look back into the testimony, both of saints, but the many apostles and prophets that have come before us, and we have God's truth, the light illumined to us. That to us is a great, great privilege. Think about this. There's a passage where Jesus Christ Himself says this, Matthew 11, verse 25, where Jesus says, or passage says in the gospel, again, Matthew 11, 25, "At that time, Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, "Lord of heaven and earth, "that you have hidden these things "from the wise and intelligent, "and have revealed them to infants.'" So earlier, I made the challenge, if your heart feels a bit hardened, understand that even hearing this truth is an absolute privilege.

It's an incredible grace of God, which we must be thankful for. Now, in order to move forward, let's ask this question. This mystery then, yes, it is something that is to be revealed. Yes, it is the gospel at large, but is there something more specific that Apostle Paul is talking about?

And yes, there is. He actually specifies it in verse six. What is he saying? The mystery contained specifically in this passage, 'cause there are other mysteries that the scripture talks about, the mystery of the kingdom, the mystery of the church, yes, the mystery of our resurrection. There's other mysteries that are there.

But here, he says very specifically that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, through the gospel. And so within this, you have that specific thing that should be bolded. You should highlight that and say, I am supposed to really understand this mystery that we, the Gentiles, remember he's saying you Gentiles, so we, the Gentiles, are fellow heirs, fellow members, fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

And then he says, of which I have been made a minister. And so there are two references I'd like to highlight for you. One is that through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles have access to God and are being built together to form one church. We are fellow members of this body, fellow partakers, okay?

And then what's more for Apostle Paul specifically to himself, there is this truth that he's going to emphasize, which is that he is a servant to this cause. Okay, now thinking about that then, let's focus on the first of the two references there. The first, this is an amazing, amazing mystery revealed.

Amazing mystery revealed. Why do we say this? Because to think that the Gentiles are fellow members with the Jewish people was something absurd to the people of the time. To think that we have the fellows, that the same, to be in the same body was to the people of the time, especially the Jews, an absurdity.

And to think that we would receive the promises of God, that would be altogether unjust. It would be unfair. And so that's why there's this great mystery. This great mystery of what God is doing in the church is something absolutely profound. I wanna highlight something for you, is this, that previously we were told that we are separate from God.

We have no hope, right? There is no hope for us. That relationally we have been so set apart from God to approach him would be absolute death. But I want you to think about this. That's all true for the Jew as well. In Exodus, in the book of Exodus, when they came to Mount Sinai, God told them, "Bring the people so far "as to come to the bottom of the mountain, "but do not trespass, "otherwise you will immediately die." And so it was.

People died. So when I show you this photo, or this amazing rendition of the picture that I had in my mind, understand that this picture is of the Jew. Do you know what is a more appropriate picture of the Gentile? Is this next one. The Jew was perhaps incrementally a very smidgen closer to God, but that distance between God and man was so far, not a single man or men put together could ever bridge.

Not ever. Across time and space, we've put all the effort of human ingenuity, nobody, nobody by their merit could approach God. However, the Jew was just that much bit closer because they had the word with them, because they had the guidance of God with them, because God gave them a covenant.

But think about this, we who are Gentiles, every single one of us that I know about our church, we don't even have that. And there exists not only a greater distance, a greater bondage, we are this little, little person over here who has a massive wall between even us and the Jew.

Why? Because we aren't the chosen nation of Israel. As a matter of fact, previously God told the nation of Israel to watch out for people like us, the ethne, the Gentiles, the people out there who worship other gods, who live like God doesn't exist, who has no knowledge or fear of God Almighty.

God had warned them to stay clear of people like us. We're even farther off. Then to think about this, that Christ has truly then broken the wall, put aside the enmity, enmity, sorry, and that God would cause us to be one, this is an incredible, massive truth. And for us then, we're supposed to appreciate that and say, "Oh my goodness, that is for us." And what's more, it gets even more personal because to this picture then, Apostle Paul is saying, "There is a solution here, which is Christ and the gospel." And he's saying, "I am then to you, your servant in that." As a matter of fact, basically what he's saying is, "I'm in prison for you.

"I'm serving you. "I'm serving this cause." And so what we're supposed to do is when we look at this passage, have this great, great sense of appreciation of how that bridge was gapped. And what's more, what I'll say is this. If we think about what that all means then, in the reference to the church, to be specific, the church was supposed to be together, together, together.

And let me explain that a little bit. The church is supposed to be together, together, together. Seeing the thought there, when I say that the great mystery was to us supposed to be that the church would be made one by Christ, look at the way, the emphatic way, Apostle Paul describes what the church is supposed to be.

And the way he describes it is that we were supposed to be fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise. When we see repetition like that in the scriptures, we're supposed to slow down, take a look, and meditate upon that. What I like to say is this is a really interesting kind of, again, another stacking parallel description of what the church is supposed to be.

Now, for the sake of time, I'm not gonna be able to expound what does it mean to be an heir, right, to receive the inheritance? What does it mean to be one body? What does it mean to be fellow partakers of the promise? We could go on and on about that and look at Old Testament passages that describe those privileges.

But here and now, let's really focus on the main focal point of the repetition, which is we're supposed to be brought together by one singular person, Jesus Christ, by one singular power, one hope, one spirit, one Father, one God. We're supposed to be, through the church, exhibiting that particular truth.

We are so uniquely united, not by anything else. We're supposed to be brought together in such a way where we're supposed to be absolutely one. And the rest of Ephesians is gonna actually describe that in greater detail, too. So, let's take a moment to pause and appreciate this. One, the church mystery is a grand mystery, which is a grand reveal party of God.

That, to us, is great news for those of us who are far. This gets a bit more personal because, as earlier that I said, Paul says to us that he is a servant to this cause, which essentially means that he is a servant to us. Let us not be, let's take a moment to think about this, okay?

Let us not be those later generations who have it so good. Let us not be the later generations that King Solomon talks about, how it's so vanity because the later generations never really appreciate what kind of sacrifice, what kind of servanthood, what kind of kind intention and mercy of God, God has exhibited, sending his servants so that we would be here.

For us, we can't imagine, because yes, we do live in, right now, the most powerful country, a country that many people across the globe would literally take the chance of dying to get into. Some would even take the chance of hurting others to get into. Some would risk the lives of their children to get into this country.

And then to act like unappreciative, overly privileged individuals, it's ridiculous. But likewise here, let us not be those who have it so good that forget what amazing revelation this is, what amazing grace of God this is, that God would tell us he is bringing us near and giving us all the privilege as of those who we had nothing to do with before.

We had no claim, we had no right, we had no part in this, and yet for God to give us that, what an incredible, incredible mercy it is. It's so profound. And so by way of conclusion, I ask this interesting question, let's think about Apostle Paul's perspective, and that's going to springboard into next week's study, 'cause Apostle Paul's gonna talk about it more, this administration that he is now a servant of, which also we are servants of.

However, Apostle Paul, in this passage to me, he is absolutely clear about the truth he received and about the truth he's telling. And for him then, that means, I need to make sure you get it. But what's also very clear is that Apostle Paul always has such a loving care for the church, right?

He's about to say, "I'm praying for you," and then he's saying, "Do you get it?" Apostle Paul has such a love and compassion for the whole Church of God to make sure that the most important thing that the church needs to get is the massive program, the massive intention, the massive redemptive plan that God has for you specifically in the church through Christ, through his blood.

And we're supposed to operate underneath that kind of context. And so today was not so much lots of didactic or specific instruction on this is what you need to do, but it's a moment for you to pause. There's so many things we're supposed to be grateful for at this point, at this juncture, in looking at all that God has done for us, and now thinking of us collectively as a church, bringing us together, our hearts should be overflowing with gratitude.

My question to you is, do you have an attitude of shrugs? I have heard that before. Or is this impacting you? And to ask the follow-up question is, why is it that we're having a hard time hearing that? 'Cause we're already in this eight weeks, and I'm guessing you've heard these passages preached before.

It is for us to make sure we have our ears, the ears of our heart open, to listen to the great truths of God. Let's take a moment to pray. Heavenly Father, Lord God built into your scripture, you call us to take a moment to evaluate, do I indeed understand?

Have I truly heard? And do I see what Apostle Paul is doing? Do I see what the church is trying to do now? And I pray Father God that you would convict in our hearts, Lord, such a gratitude. We are the fruit of your great work, your mighty hand.

And on a human level, there have been many before us and many now who are trying to minister to us your gospel truth. I pray Father God that we would respond with absolute thankfulness in our hearts. And Lord, what's more, I pray that this truth of your salvation, just truth of what you're doing with the church, radically affect where we're placing our priorities, would radically affect how we even respond to the things that are happening in our lives.

And especially during this time, Lord, I pray that God, while physically, we're literally forced now, and by good measure, Lord, we are having to make sure that we're creating some distance. Help us, Father God, to make sure that we are being spiritually united and that we make every effort to be one, that God, we would be one in thought and that we would be one in heart towards you.

We love you, it's in Christ, and we pray, amen.