“Do You Know God's Secrets?”

Sunday, July 26, 2009

David Schneider, Interim Pastor

Ephesians 3:1-20PRIVATE

 

                TEXT: "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 make all (men) see what is the Plan

                of the mystery hidden for all ages in God who created all things."

 

I.          ONE OF THE MOVIES I HAVE ENJOYED SEEING MORE THAN ONCE IS THE "SECRET GARDEN." In this delightful movie, Mary Lennox, a young child of about 12, whose parents die in India. She is sent to live with a reclusive uncle on his large country estate on the moors of England. Mary befriends  a neighborhood boy, Dickon, Together the two of them discover a secret garden locked up since the death of her uncle's beloved wife. Mary and Dicken start working in that garden.Then they bring her bedridden cousin Colin into the garden The secret garden becomes the source of Colin's complete recovery and leads to a reconciliation between him and his father. [pause]

            A          Is there anything better than a good secret or a mystery in a well-written novel?

                        1.         In such a setting, special knowledge sets us apart from the general public which does not know. It gives us power over them. It sets us up as the object of their envy and plotting, an intrigue to steal our secret!

     

            B.         Surprisingly enough, Paul claims that God has given him a secret!

                        1.         Here at the start of Ephesians 3, God's grace becomes very specific, a singular favor granted to Paul,

                        2.         a person who confesses he is one of "the least of the saints" and "not

                                    worthy to be called an apostle"

                        3.         So God made known to him this mystery of the faith, which has been

                                    hidden from the beginning of creation according to God's wisdom.

                        4.         Do you know that early in the church’s history there were 6 letters all included under this title of “Ephesians” being circulated?

                                    a.         Whatever you believe about Paul’s authorship, when we look at                                          Ephesians, we must also look at Colossians. The two letters are very closely tied in their message.  

                                    c.         We cannot understand the heart of Paul’s theology apart from this great book of Ephesians.  [pause]

           

            C.        "The secret things belong to God," we read in the 29th chapter of Deuteronomy (29:29); but there are two ways in which these hidden things are made known to you and me:

                        1.         The first is through direct REVELATION:

                                    a.         as we are inspired by the Holy Spirit.

                                    b.         You may be blessed with a vision or a dream that brings sudden

                                                illumination, as the man who appeared to Paul in a dream and                                            invited him to bring the Gospel to Macedonia/Greece.

                                    c.         Direct revelation is very rare.

                                    d.         Oral Roberts years ago claimed a 90 ft. tall Jesus appeared to him                                                 in a vision, telling him to build the Tower of Hope in downtown Tulsa.  A few months later, John House, a Southern Baptist preacher friend, told me, AI have been a minister for 40 years, and Jesus has never                                       said a thing to me.@

                        2.         Second: the hidden things are made known to us in HOLY SCRIPTURE:

                                    a.         Receiving revelation through Scripture, says Paul, is a wonderful gift                                              given to all Christians and to the whole Church.

 

II.          WHAT THEN IS THIS SECRET OR MYSTERY TO WHICH PAUL LAYS CLAIM?

            A.         Commentator Maxie Dunnam says that Paul suggests, “It is not Christ's secret, but the secret which is Christ.@

                        1.         In  Jesus’ parables there is often a hidden meaning, or a mystery of the                                          Kingdom, which even his disciples ar unable to see.

                                    a.         It is none other than Jesus himself!

                        2.         It is Christ "in whom all things are to be united," declares Paul in Ephesians.

                        3.         Paul now lays on his Jewish readers, and on the Gentile Ephesian

                                    Church, a radical and shocking new revelation:

                        4.         In Christ even the Gentiles have been called to share equally with the Jews                        all of God's promises fulfilled in Jesus,

                                    a.         to be equal heirs, full participants in the plan of salvation.

                                   

            B.         It is as if Paul tells you and me to see those outsiders whom the program of  our own church never touches as now included in the inheritance which Jesus Christ has given to you and me!

                        1.         Those in other churches who say only folks in their church are saved,

                                    b.         who claim they are the only Bible believers —

                                    c.         to see them as fellow heirs in Christ Jesus’ plan of salvation, full                                         participants side by side in the kingdom of heaven.

                        2.         This is a very difficult thing for us to do—for liberal Christians to look at Bible-Belt church-goers, for conservative evangelicals to look at us -- all of us as included as equal in the kingdom!

                                    a.         for a Presbyterian who is on the opposite side from me on the                                             ordination of gays issue as a brother or sister in Jesus!

                        3.         How Paul dares to include every one of us in God’s beloved family is                                              the true mystery of the church that no one today can accept!

                                    a.         If you really understand the message of Ephesians and Colossians,

                                                it is scandalous to the traditional church!

                        4.         Listen to the 17

th century wisdom of John Calvin: "What presumption, what                                    madness it is," not to admit God is wiser than we!,,,.His own boundlessness we presume to bind.”

                                    a.         His knowledge and wisdom far surpasses my limited intellect, my                                       heart, my vision; so does this mystery of the body of Christ!  

                        5.         The archangel Gabriel was overheard talking to Jesus shortly after the Ascension. Gabriel asks him: @What is your plan of salvation?”Are you really

                                    going to leave it up to 12 uneducated men?@ AYes,@ says Jesus, that is my plan. It’s so simpleBthat=s the beauty of it.@ Gabriel, who was not impressed,  asked: AWell, what=s your contingency plan-- in case that does not work?@ AI  don=t have a contingency plan.@                                      

 

            C.        Even though this secret, has been given to Paul, by God's unique gift of

                        revelation, he says he is eager to share it with everyone.      

                        1.         Paul's confidence and boldness is balanced by his humility and openness.

                        2.         In Mark 4:11, Jesus in explaining his parable of the sower to his disciples

                                    says, "'To you have been given the secrets of the Kingdom of God, but for

                                    those outside everything is in parables.'"

                                    a.         There's that word “YOU” again!

                                    b.         Jesus is dangerously personal!

                                    (page 2)

                        3.         One of the keys to the kingdom is to fully grasp the mystery of the faith which has been entrusted to you and me.

                        4.         But Paul tells us, our knowledge is faulty, as well as our prophetic powers:

                                    a.         "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face."

                        5.         So how may we presume special privilege and be so certain others must

                                    fall outside of Christ’s inclusive community of faith?

                        6.         Calvin suggests that "Paul's words (in Ephesians 3) mean that the Church,                                   gathered from Jews and Gentiles alike, is a mirror in which angels contemplate the wonderful wisdom of God which they did not know before."

                                    a.         The picture of our church family here at Central Presbyterian is a

                                                mirror in which angels contemplate God’s wisdom and love!

                                    b.         Is not this a beautiful image?

                        7.         All of God's revelation is a gift given to all Christians,

                                    a.         which for Paul comes not to isolated individuals, but comes within the corporate context of the whole Church.

                                    b.         As the church body you and I are the recipients of "the unsearchable                                   riches of Jesus Christ," given to all who belong to Him.

                                   

            D.        And why is this revelation of His mystery given to us?

                        1.         TO BUILD UP, TO STRENGTHEN , TO EQUIP THE CHURCH, FOR  THE WORK OF MINISTRY.”

                        2.         Ephesians chapter 4 is Paul’s mission statement for the church. He lays

                                    the foundation, creates his preamble:

                                    a.         "that through the CHURCH...you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of                                        Christ which surpasses knowledge."

                        3.         Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" declares, "You would play upon me; you would seem to know my stops; you would pluck out the heart of my mystery; you would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass."

                                    a.         This quote describes the secret of sharing the good news of Jesus.

           

            E..        How do we know, how do we perceive and come to a full understanding,

                        of this secret or mystery of God's revelation? ... Through PRAYER.  

                        1.         Jesus even tells us to pray in secret, and not make a show of it.

                        2.         Someone has wisely observed that "prayer is theology on its knees,"

                                    theology at work with its sleeves rolled up.

                        3.         Remember that Ephesians (1-3) is largely a prayer for the church

                        4.         We pray to the omniscient God...

                                    a.         to give us knowledge of God’s self - to ILLUMINE us,

                                    b.         to give us His wisdom, to DISCERN God’s Truth,

                                    c.         "that you may know what is the HOPE to which he has called you.”            

                       5          One of the qualifications for church officers in I Timothy (3:9) is that they "must hold the mystery of the faith..."            

                                    a.         illumination (my eyes opened), discernment, hope through prayer                           b..            We must have an active and meaningful prayer life.

                                    c.         In the past 12 months one of my goals has been to strengthen our                                      congregational prayer             life, to put it at the center of everything we do.

                                                (page 3)

                                               

III.         NOW WE NEED TO ASK, WHAT IS THE ROLE  GOD HAS IN MIND FOR HIS CHURCH?

            A.         The Church is The FELLOWSHIP of the Mystery (is that a good name!) we are

                        all drawn together into one into Christ  Jesus, who is our head.

                        1.         In the metaphor of John's Gospel: one flock and one Shepherd of us all,

                                    and the flock will not be completed until the Shepherd gathers in those

                                    sheep who are currently not of "this fold."       

                        2.         Ten years ago I exchanged churches with the Rev. Neil Johnson from New Zealand for 3 months. The Johnston family came to the First Presbyterian Church in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I went to Plimmerton Parish near Wellington (3 churches) from December, 1994, through February, 1995.   During the time I was with the Plimmerton Parish. There was little sense of being a church family. One was an affluent church, perhaps the most

                                    charismatic in the denomination, St. James Church in Whitby. A second was very traditional, the larger St Barnabas in Paremata. And St. Paul=s, the original mother church in the seaside village of Plimmerton, had about 35 older members.                                 

                                    a.         I shared an observation (from my journal) with them from the pulpit.

                                    b.         At St. Barnabas, St. Paul's and at St. James Church, we are divided over issues and over theology, over style of worship and over the role of Presbytery  "It is my  deepest prayer for you that through

                                                this unfathomable mystery of God's grace, you  shall become one                                      united, loving family working toward one goal, to mirror the Kingdom of God to both angels and the outside world."

                                    c.         St. Paul=s and st. James have since been closed.

 

            B.         God's plan is that this Mystery shall be known only through His Church.

                        1.         What mystery? that all are called in God's creation to share equally as

                                    heirs in his promise and in his gift of salvation.

                        2.         Christ's Church is called to be three things, says Paul:                                                        a.             First, to be the demonstration of the breaking down of all barriers --  

all hatred, prejudice or suspicion which divide the human family.                                  b.         Second, to be the staging ground for the fulness and the power of                                             the risen Christ to draw all persons unto himself.

                                                (I)         Paul's language is the only truly inclusive language that we                                                  may speak in the church.      

                                    c.         and third, to be the demonstration of His Love, "For whoever loves                                      knows God; for God is love" (I John 4:7,8).

              

IV.        THIS THEN IS GOD'S PLAN FOR OUR LIVES:

            A.         That we are chosen, He has called us for a holy purpose; that He is able to bring us          from the edge of spiritual death and meaninglessness to a wonderful life, which       begins when we confess that every one of us is a sinner unworthy of his love; and             finally, that He wants to reveal to us His wonderful Mystery, that all people       everywhere--both inside and outside the Church--have been called to  share in his     promise of salvation. We, who are His Church, have been called to carry that        message to every corner of His world.  

            A.         I leave you with the powerful words of William Cowper's hymn, written in

                        Olney, England nearly 2 centuries ago, but still as true as ever:

                        (page 4)

 

 

                        "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform;

                        ...Deep in unfathomable mines, Of never-failing skill

                        He treasures up His bright designs, And works His sovereign will.

                        ...His purpose will ripen fast, Unfolding every hour...

                        ...God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain."

 

            B.         Now may we stand to receive God’s blessing for God’s whole church                                             everwhere::"Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more                                   abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be glory in the church and in Christ                     Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen."           (page 5)

                        ... And may God’s people say...”Amen.”