JESUS AND THE GENTILES
Every verse in our passage is packed with truths, but today, we will focus on two things.
– Unveiling of a mystery
– Unfolding of a ministry
UNVEILING OF A MYSTERY (Eph 2:19, 3:1-6)
“So then you (Gentiles) are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God . . .
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. 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.”
The usual meaning of the word MYSTERY is: “Something that is difficult or impossible to understand.” But here Paul is using it to denote something outside the range of natural apprehension, which can be made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and with the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Paul mentions this MYSTERY in other places too, in Eph 1:7-10, Eph 6:18-19.
What is this MYSTERY?
We see the answer in our text in Eph 3:6. “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.”
Why is it such a MYSTERY?
Because the one true God of the Old Testament was the God of Israel, as we see in Deut 7:6. Also, in Gal 3: 7-9, 28, we read: “If you are in Christ, you are Abraham’s offspring.” This would have seemed strange to both Jew and gentile when it was first announced. The apostle Paul unveils this truth that Jesus came to die for His people who are both Jew and gentile.
UNFOLDING OF A MINISTRY EPH 3:4-7
“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.”
Paul explains to King Agrippa how this MINISTRY was given to him, and what was said to him by the Lord. Acts 26: 16-18 “But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
What a choice the Lord had made in chosing a hater of Christ to take a gospel he once hated to a people he despised. So Paul became a MINISTER of the gospel. Every preacher ought to be this. Paul after his conversion loved the gospel, which in a nutshell is found in 1 Cor 15:3-4 “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
In Rom 1:16, we read that Paul wrote: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”
About the message that Paul was preaching, our text in Ephesians says: “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 inGod.” (Eph 3:8-9).
Unsearchable means it cannot be searched out. But Paul goes to preach it because it is so wonderful.
We cannot comprehend the love that is in the gospel. We can only scratch the surface.
That is why hymn writers pen verse like this:
“Would drain the ocean dry / Nor could the scroll contain the whole / Though stretched from sky to sky”
Paul is going to preach God’s love in the gospel, the grace in the gospel, the mercy, the kindness, assurance, and the inheritance in the gospel.
This gospel is a delight to every Christian. Is it a delight to you? Is it a gospel of which you are not ashamed? It is the responsibility of every believer to share with others, as it is the only answer to a perishing world.
While everyone is afraid of dying of covid, every last one will die eternally if they do not believe the gospel.
1 Cor 9:16-18 “For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship. What then is my reward? That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge. . .”
Paul wants to preach the gospel without money and without price.
And we must do the same.