8.29.10 – Let’s assume that everyone here is really good at keeping a secret. I’m not talking about illegal activities or anything like that. Let’s just say you’re the kind of person someone can take into their confidence for something like a surprise party. Or, a friend is having an operation and they don’t want everyone to know, but they tell you because they know you can be trusted to keep it under your hat.

It’s good to be that kind of trustworthy person. Secrets can be fun to keep. It’s fun to be “in the know” for the aforementioned surprise party. It’s gratifying to know that a friend trusts you with delicate information.

But it’s also fun to be in on a secret that’s a little more well-known. Like discovering an out-of-the-way restaurant. That’s not exactly a secret, because it’s a public business, but it’s fun to be one of the few people who know about it.

For several thousand years, the “secret” of God was kept by the Jews. Paul says that the secret was for more than just the Jews, though. He says you have been entrusted with the secret. What does that mean?

Ephesians 3:1-13
For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for 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. 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 in 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 unsearchable 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 realized 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. (ESV)

OK, you’re reading along in Ephesians and you come to this phrase, “For this reason … “ Your mind naturally goes back to the end of chapter 22, thinking that’s the reason Paul is referring to.

But it’s probably not. Look back at 1:13-14:

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (ESV)

Remember that seal? That’s what Paul is writing to the Ephesians about. Maybe he had gotten word that some of them were doubtful about their salvation, or were wavering in their faith. He has written them (and us) to say that those people who have heard the gospel and believed (which is more than head knowledge—as we saw in our 1 John study it’s a complete lifestyle) have been sealed, guaranteed.

In chapter 1 he said that it was because of that seal on the Christians in Ephesus that he was praying for them (thankfully, petitioning the Holy Spirit on their behalf and glorifying God). Now, he wants to say that it’s because of that seal that something else grand is happening: he’s in prison!

That doesn’t sound too grand, does it? I’ve never been in jail or prison, but I’ve visited both and neither looked very appealing. I’ve been corresponding with a guy who is in prison and, believe me, I have no desire to join him there. Yet Paul says that he is in prison for the people of Ephesus (and, we believe, us) and it is to our glory.

Why is he happy to be in prison and how can it be to our glory?

Remember why Paul is in prison. It all started back in Acts (chaps 21-22). Paul was worshiping at the temple in Jerusalem and was arrested because he had supposedly brought a Gentile in where only Jews were allowed to go. The charge was false, but Paul had been seen with a Gentile outside the temple and he was known to be preaching to the Gentiles. So his accusers had put two and two together and gotten five.

Paul, then, is in prison because of his faith in Jesus Christ and God-given determination that the gospel be preached to all men, no matter what their race.

I don’t know if it’s right to say that Paul is “happy” to be in prison, but he’s grateful to be there—but for a reason that might seem odd to us. Remember how in Ephesians 2:10 he told us that when we are saved by grace there are works of service God lays out for us to do? Paul is excited because he—whom he refers to as unworthy—has been given the wondrous task of proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to people who used to be deemed unworthy of the things of God.

That’s to our glory because without this great news, you and I aren’t saved. Our only hope might have been to convert to Judaism and keep the law, but it had already been proven (over and over) that even those born into the system weren’t able to keep it. This glory that Paul says is ours? It’s not just temporary glory—like a trophy at the county fair—but eternal glory in heaven, given us by God’s grace, through Jesus!

Look back there at verse 2: “Surely you have heard that God in his grace has given me this work to do for your good.” (GNB)

The giving of grace always carries with it a responsibility. This privilege implies a purpose—not just that God has a purpose, but that he has given us one as well. Again, it’s not that Paul likes prison, but he knows that God is working with a purpose and he knows that—as a consequence, he, Paul, has a purpose, too. And with the proclaiming of that purpose to us, we, too, have a purpose!

Do you realize what a big deal this is? Living here in America, we take a lot of things for granted. I assume that the roads will be maintained. I assume that if I have a grievance, there is somewhere I can go to rectify the situation. I assume that there is a right and wrong to most every situation and I know that I will strive for the right and—generally—assume my fellow citizens will do the same.

Paul’s audience is in a completely different world! Roman citizens had the right to the things I just mentioned (as well as stuff like “freedom of speech” and the “right to a fair trial” and et. al.), but non-Romans did not. Paul is writing to Gentiles who may have come to feel that they were second-class citizens in the church, with the Jewish Christians being the only “full citizens”.

Not so! he tells us.

Look at verse 6: “Jewish people and non-Jewish people are now partners; they will inherit together. And through the Good News, they share God’s promise in Christ Jesus.” (IEB)

Paul says this was a “secret” or a “mystery”. God had prophesied about the Messiah all through the Old Testament, but how that Messiah was going to save us had been a secret until the Christ actually appeared. That’s why some wanted Jesus to be a political leader, or a military warrior.

No one had pictured that God would use a Messiah the way he did. If anything, they might have thought that the Messiah was going to draw us all over to the “Jews’ side”. What they never imagined was that God was going to use the Messiah to destroy the wall in the middle—so that there would be no sides—and create one new people, those people we call “Christians”!!

We’re not 2nd class citizens; and neither are the Jews who have come to the Messiah. Followers of Christ are co-heirs, members of a “co-body” and co-partaking in the inheritance God has laid out for all who are in him, through the son.

And this revolutionary idea is not Paul’s, or concocted by any man, but given by God himself through revelation. Just as he said in Galatians 2:8 that Peter’s ministry and message were gifts of God, not something Peter made up.

Think about who Paul was. He persecuted the church. He was a murderer for (he thought) God. But the Holy Spirit broke through that hard, evil shell with love and turned Paul into the servant of God he became and whose words we study this morning!

So, why was the message kept secret? Verse 10 tells us it was to show the “rulers and the powers” the wisdom of God. These rulers and powers are the devil and his demons. That’s where the real war is. From this verse we learn that they had been fighting their battle under false assumptions. We don’t know what those assumptions were, but even in their wildest dreams they never imagined God saving puny, little, sinful humans with the life of his very own son.

Quick note: don’t assume you know what God is doing. His ways are not like our ways. God’s got a plan, he wants us in on it, but he may not reveal every little detail right when we want him to. But he will take care of us and … look at verse 13:

So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory. (ESV)

Don’t lose heart. Have you ever looked at the passages in the Bible where men or women come face to face with angels? What’s the first thing the angel always says? “Don’t be afraid.”

With our puny little minds, so wracked with sin, when we see the pure plan of God, it’s going to scare us. Sometimes that’s just because it seems like it’s taking too long, or that it’s too hard. Paul’s saying, “Don’t lose heart. The plan’s going to work.”

James 1:25
But if you look closely into the perfect law that sets people free, and keep on paying attention to it and do not simply listen and then forget it, but put it into practice—you will be blessed by God in what you do. (BBE)

What do I DO with this?

What’s the best part about a secret? Telling it! God is not just giving us permission to tell this secret—this Good News—he’s commissioning us to do so!

Don’t lose heart. God may not seem to be working at the speed you want him to work, but trust that he is working … and for a far better outcome than you ever imagined!!