May 17, 2009
Background Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-13
Devotional Reading: Isaiah 40:1-11

Christians often have difficulty in reading and understanding the
Epistle to the Ephesians: Long, complex sentences compacted with extensive theological concepts.

I mention this for two reasons: to reassure you, if you have found these readings difficult, and to explain why I am narrowing my comments to two points and not covering more of the background scripture, which deserves considerably more attention.

Chapter 3 begins as a prayer: “I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles …” (3:1), but then digresses into an explanation of what lies behind it. The prayer itself resumes at 3:14, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father …”
So our background scripture covers not the prayer, but the explanation of its content.

Tough sledding

I. The Stewardship of God’s Grace – The writer speaks of the revelation of what he was given by the grace of God: “… assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you …” (3:2). He is convinced that the revelation of the mystery was given to him by God, not to enjoy all by himself or revel in his pride, but to share it with non-Jewish people attracted to the gospel.

It is a gift of grace from God, and grace brings with it the obligation of stewardship. So those who are drawn to the way of Christ because of its assumed benefits must know that it comes with obligations.

The religion of Jesus begins with the verb “follow” and ends with the verb “go!” You can’t have one without the other.
So – what’s your score or grade in the stewardship of the faith you received?

II. A Mystery Revealed – The writer speaks in three verses of the mystery revealed to him: “… how the mystery was made known to me by revelation …” (3:3), “… you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ …” (3:4), and “to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God …” (3:9).

As the individual Christian is called to this stewardship of God’s mystery, so is the Church: “… that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places” (3:10).

But, what a ride!

So, what is this mystery: “… that is how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (3:6)? All humankind, not just the Jews or Jewish Christians, are one in the purpose and plan of God.
That plan has already been stated in Ephesians 1:9,10: “For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

The gospel of Christ may inadvertently divide people, churches and nations, but that is not God’s purpose: It is to unite all creation. Anything which knowingly divides this creation is not of the plan and purpose of God.

People who preserve their doctrinal purity by splitting congregations are neither doctrinal nor pure. Anything that divides humanity is contrary to the will of God. Or as the Baptist Sentinel put it, “You can’t spell ‘brothers’ and not spell ‘others.’”

This is an inspiring vision, but all too often, not our reality. Prejudice, particularly hidden bias, bars the unity God desires. Churches become little fortresses against “others” who don’t look as we do, think as we do or do as we do.

If our vision of the Church reaches no further than the walls of our church, we deny the mystery of God in Christ and flunk the course.
Your report card, please!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World. Readers with questions or comments for Rev. Althouse may write to him in care of this publication.