Mystery Revealed Series

Mystery Revealed

Ephesians 3:1-3

Focus: Paul’s mission was to reveal the fact that God has broken down the walls which

divide and made all one in Christ; a mission which he also gives to the church.

Function: To challenge the church to take up Paul’s challenge to reveal the manifold

wisdom of God to the world!

I’ve always loved a good mystery, how about you? I bet, as a kid,

I read most all of the Sherlock Holmes stories and was always intrigued

how Holmes could pick apart a mystery and solve it from the obscurest &

smallest of clues! One of my favorites, too, was the Hardy Boys- two

teenage boys who always seemed to find themselves in the middle of

some dastardly mystery. I loved mysteries on t.v. I suppose I was

strange for my generation in that I loved the old Perry Mason shows. My

favorite part was always at the end when Mason would reveal the REAL

killer and it was never who you would have expected! What is it that

makes mysteries so intriguing to us? Even today, the most popular t.v.

show is C.S.I. (Which I’ve never seen) but which depicts a team of

criminal science experts unraveling the toughest & graphic of crimes.

Mysteries draw us in, don’t they? They challenge our thinking and arouse

our interests.

Did you know that in one sense the Bible tells of God’s Plan as

being a “mystery”? Now, its not the kind of mystery that you and I might

think of . . . a “whodunnit”-- and its not the kind of mystery that could have

been figured out by a Sherlock Holmes or Joe Friday. But in the very real

sense that what God was ultimately ‘up to’ had not been fully realized- it

was a mystery to many. What God was doing (& had been doing from the

very beginning) to reconcile his people to himself had not been completely

clear to the people. But now, Paul (in the great Sherlock Holmes tradition)

has the privilege of unveiling . . . of uncovering and revealing the greatest

of mysteries . . . for all time!

Let’s look again the text that _____ just read. Eph. 3 Remember Paul

has just pointed out that the dividing walls have been broken down- that

now we are all (Jew & Gentile) on the same team, so to speak! He’ll build

off of that theme and launch into a prayer, but something stops him short.

As he writes, he pauses to reflect upon the ministry that he has been

given.

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you

Gentiles-- 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace

that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by

revelation, as I have already written briefly.

I. Paul says, “Let me tell you about My Ministry.”

Remember, Paul is in prison here. He’s been given this

wonderful ministry to take the good news to the Gentiles, but now that has

landed him in prison. But notice that not even chains will stop Paul from

proclaiming the message! Though he’s chained to a Roman guard . . . he

doesn’t say that he is a prisoner of Caesar! Paul knows that he is a

prisoner ‘of Christ;’ for the sake of Christ and so he’s going to continue

and even use his imprisonment for the Kingdom! While imprisoned he

writes some of the most profound texts in all of Scripture: Galatians,

Ephesians, Philippians & Colossians- all written during his time in prison,

which was considerable! And then its as if this thought reminds Paul of

something and causes him to stop short. My Bible has a dash at the end

of vs. 1. Its an indication of an abrupt change in thought . . . something

‘theater folks’ call an ‘aside’. He leaves his train of thought for a few

paragraphs, but he’ll return to it next week in vs. 14.

He’s not just aimlessly meandering, he pauses because he has

something important to say! He has been handed a mystery- ‘made

known to him by revelation’ for ‘YOU’, Gentile Christians in and around

Ephesus! This word ‘administration’ is the same word for ‘stewardship.’

Paul, by God’s grace, has been made a steward or manager of this

mystery. Well, what is this ‘mystery’ Paul speaks of?

4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the

mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to men in other

generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and

prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs

together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the