Have you ever been on the outside looking in? An inside joke you didn't get. A party you weren't invited to. A group you couldn't join. There have always been the haves and the have-nots. And for centuries the Jews had it and were not about to share. After all, they were the chosen ones. A people chosen by God, protected by God, provided for by God. They wore their "faith" like a badge of honor and held so tight to their position that it was almost impossible for anyone on the outside to get in. By the way, I don't believe that was ever God's plan - but, they were human just like us... speaking of us, we still act like the Jews of Paul's day. Many of you found Real Life because you visited a church where you felt like an outsider. Maybe they used language you didn't understand, they laughed at jokes you didn't get or they had rituals that you were either excluded from or felt strange participating in.
This was the situation in the beginning of the Church. The Jews held the market on God for many years but after Jesus and the coming of Holy Spirit in Acts 2, along with the rapid spread of the Church across the known world, this new "religion" based in Jesus was now open to anyone who believed. It was a revolutionary idea and one that the religious establishment of the day hated (after all, they killed the leader).
So three things I want to point out today that are just as important as they were 2K years ago.
First - the mystery of the the Gospel of Jesus is not really a mystery at all (v 6)- it was prophesied in the Old Testament for thousands of years prior to Jesus. The mystery of the Gospel is that no one, NO ONE is better than anyone else in God's eyes. This was a HUGE shock to the Jews and a HUGE benefit to the non-Jews (Gentiles). Through the Good News of Jesus' payment for our sins, Jews and non-Jews alike, were both able to share in the promise of Jesus Christ - hope in eternal life.
Second - Paul's calling is so deeply imbedded in who he is that he is writing this letter from prison. He is in prison for preaching Jesus. He's in prison for exercising something many of us take for granted, freedom of speech. He told people about a dead guy who came back to life and who he believed was God in the flesh. Sounds scandalous.
Paul saw his calling as two fold:
1. He was to preach the Gospel of Jesus to the Gentiles - meaning, he was to tell them about Jesus, His life, teaching, miracles, death and resurrection and what that meant of every person.
2. He was to "make plain" the mystery - that the Gentiles were supposed to be "in" since the beginning and now, through Jesus it's actually happened.
2a. Part of that mystery he was sharing was that through the Church - an entirely new thing - God's plan of salvation in Jesus was finally being revealed to the heavenly beings. I think this salvation in Jesus came as a shock to the Angels and demons alike. I think Satan absolutely believed he had won and there was a huge party that lasted for about 3 days. On the other side, I think the angels were stunned. I don't think they knew what was happening. God, their eternal King, was just killed at the hands of measly humans. Unthinkable.
2b. That in Jesus and through faith in Him all people everywhere could approach God with freedom and confidence. This was unheard of in any religion. There had always been priests, temples and sacrifices. No one approached any God, let alone the God of the Hebrews, with confidence or freedom - I mean, the Jewish priests tied a rope and a bell to the ankle of the High Priest every time he went into the Holy of Holies in the Temple of God! This was so that if the bell stopped ringing they would know God had not accepted his sacrifice and they could pull his lifeless body out of the Temple, since no one but him was allowed into that room and he only went in there once a year.
Third - Paul has a prayer for the Gentiles. That they would be strengthened by the power of Holy Spirit in their inner being (this is where the attitudes of the Spirit are formed). And because of that inner strengthening there would be an even greater outcome.
1. That Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith.
2. That they would be rooted and established, not in fear or law or hate or hope or faith, but in love.
3. that they would have the power (from God) to grasp the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ (because he knew it would forever change them).
4. That they would know this love that surpasses all knowledge and be filled to the measure of the fullness of Christ - basically that they would have all of Jesus that they could possibly hold.
So, there is a mystery that people today still need to hear - Jesus loves you and gave Himself for you that you might believe in Him, regardless of your past, your sin or even your future sin and become a part of His family. There is a calling for each and every one of us who have discovered this mystery and it is to share it with others they too might know Jesus and that through the church the message of Jesus might be known - that belief in Him makes you right before God - not your behavior. And finally, there is a prayer for you and I that the love of Jesus might be so known to us and so fill us that we actually begin to look like Jesus.
This is the result of the attitudes of the Spirit. We know the keys to the "mystery" of eternal life. We've been called to share what we know and we should pray that we, and every one else, would know the extent of the love of Jesus. Because if we did, we'd never be the same.
Remember, God's got a plan for your life. This is juts a part of it.
What makes the biggest impact to you from chapter 3?
Thoughts on the Bible, Church, life and living it to its full potential in Jesus Christ!
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