The Apostle Paul is writing the letter to the Ephesians from a Roman prison because the Jews in Jerusalem accused him of fraternizing with Gentiles. And here in Ephesians 3:1-13, Paul tells us it’s worth it! All the sufferings for the Gospel, all the hardship, pain, loss, and imprisonment, every bit of it is worthwhile…because of the wonder of the Gospel.
The Gospel story is worth it all! How can this be? We’ll explore three ways that this passage encourages us that the wonder of the Gospel makes it all worthwhile.
1) Spirit’s Mysterious Revelation:
The Gospel is God’s plot twist.
It’s the mystery hidden in plain sight that one day, in Jesus Christ, the true Son of Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed: Gentiles and Jews alike, one new family in Jesus, by grace and through faith. No one saw that coming!
2) Christ’s Unsearchable Riches:
What God planned in secret from the dawn of creation and kept hidden until just the right moment, when in Jesus Christ God brought all the loose ends of history together in the greatest “aha” moment of all time!
The French call it the dénouement, the part of a story when everything finally makes sense, and all the loose ends are tied off and the plot comes to resolution.
The Gospel is God’s dénouement.
All the mystery and questions and loose ends come together in perfect resolution as Jesus Christ takes the stage and the Good News is proclaimed to the nations! The hope of Israel, the light to the Gentiles, was always Jesus all along.
3) God’s Cosmic Purpose:
There’s a cascade of revelation in this passage. The Spirit revealed this Gospel to Paul the good news that in Christ the Gentiles are included in God’s people.
Paul revealed that Good News to the Ephesians of as he preached to them the unsearchable riches of Christ. And as Ephesian Jews and Gentiles believed that Good News and placed their trust in Jesus, this multi-ethnic church came into being.
And now through the church God is revealing, making known his manifold wisdom “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” Now, who are these rulers and authorities?
God is making His manifold wisdom known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places—the supernatural cosmic powers (angels and demons)—through His church.
The Gospel is God’s triumph.
Now here’s what’s amazing: this passage is like a grand crescendo, ending with the cosmic triumph of God before the hosts of heaven. But where does it start?
With the Spirit’s revelation of the Gospel to “the very least of all the saints.” God’s cosmic triumph comes through the least of all the saints.
God took an ordinary sinner saved by grace to preach the Gospel of Jesus, to form His multi-ethnic church, and to narrate God’s cosmic triumph in the universe!
Takeaway: We are enacting God’s wonderous Gospel story!
You’ve been invited into the greatest story the world has ever known. You get to be a part of this Good News!
Ephesians 3:1-13
