Pray: Humbly ask God for wisdom. Ask Him to teach you as you read the following section of the Bible.
Read: Ephesians 3:1-10
Remember the cartoon “Scooby Doo” and how Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby would go around finding clues and solving mysteries? In this passage, we find the apostle Paul driving the “Mystery Machine” and leaving us clues from chapter 2 about the mystery he speaks of in this chapter. Actually, God has left us clues to His mystery throughout the Old Testament.
He chose to bless Abraham’s offspring (Genesis 12) and through him, to bless all nations. Although God’s law and covenant were revealed first to the Jewish people, the prophet Isaiah spoke of a servant of God who would be a “light to the Gentiles” (Isaiah 49).
In Ephesians 3, the mystery is solved: the Gentiles are included in God’s salvation plan every bit as much as Jews (Acts 9:15; 13:46–47; Rom 1:5–6). This is great news! Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the whole world…salvation is for everyone! As Paul says elsewhere, “There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28). No one has an upper hand or an inside route to God. The death and resurrection of Jesus leveled the playing field.
There is no room for fear of rejection, racism, narcissism, or pride of any kind. Once God reaches out to us and changes our hearts to desire Him, we are all on the same team because we brought nothing to the bargaining table and He brought everything!
Paul describes himself as the “least of all the saints” in v. 8. For someone who had such a dramatic conversion experience (Acts 9) and went on to be the most prolific writer of the New Testament, this is quite a humble statement. Similar to the reason that God entrusted the gospel of grace to Paul for making known the mystery to the Gentiles, he defines the role of the church: “so God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens” (v. 10).
According to this verse, we are to declare what Christ has done for us and demonstrate what unity in Christ looks like. The “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” are most likely the spiritual beings (good and evil but primarily evil) spoken about again in Eph 6:12. In other words, we are in a spiritual battle every day. God has chosen us to be his visible expression on earth through the power of the Holy Spirit to a world that needs to know the love God has for all people. Will you play the role God has given you?
Reflection Questions:
1. Do you find that you constantly compare yourself with others? Why?
2. Do you ever feel less than worthy of God’s love? What do you base that on?
3. What are some specific and practical ways you can demonstrate the unity we as believers have in Christ?
Memorize: Ephesians 3:6
6 “The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”