Fellow Heirs & Fellow Members, Eph, 3:4-7

As we look here at this passage this morning, this is kind of a pivotal time. From a calendar standpoint, we've reached a milestone. A year ago today, we began our study in Ephesians and Colossians. For those of you who are visiting here, yes, we're studying two books at once. I don't talk two different things at the same time.

That's the one blessing in this thing. This is our last Sunday morning meeting of this year, so it's pivotal from that standpoint. But one of the things we'll see here in this passage is that it's also kind of like this time that we're on the brink of. It's a kind of a revealing of things.

It's a revealing of truths previously unknown. And God is pulling back the curtain, so to speak, on things that have not been revealed before and now have been made known. The character of the passage. Paul is continuing, as he began last week, to explain how Here are truths that are now revealed that in generations past were not known, were not revealed, were not understood, but now have been made known and are proclaimed to everyone. As we look here at this verse here, it's a big passage. Usually we don't study this much at once. So those of you who are visiting us here, usually we'll study about half this amount. So this is a fairly large amount.

If you were tracking with us in the handout, this is the page number on your handout that you'll see. So you can stay with us and hopefully not get out of sync. You'll find in great part that the kind of little slides on your handout correspond to what's on the overhead. With some minor assumptions, I hope don't lose you.

All right. Now, one of the things, because this is a massive passage, it's kind of an elephant of a passage, OK? Okay, because of the word mystery, it's a moose of a passage. Those of you who have been here a while know what I'm talking about. But we just don't want to let the mooses take over everything.

And so, anyway, what we'll do is we'll take this and break it up into each verse at a time, alright? So one verse at a time we'll take it and just step through it that way and track with it that way and I think we'll get through it just fine. Alright, now, verse 4.

He begins with this in the New American Standard by referring to this, okay? And so the question is, what's he referring to? King James has some equivalent language there. He's telling us about what he's just mentioned in the first three verses, especially in verse 3, by revelation that was made known to him, the mystery, as he wrote before in brief. In Ephesians chapter 2, verses 11 through 22, Paul had explained how in order to create the church, the law, the Mosaic law, had been put out of commission. so that the Jews and the Gentiles might be one in Christ. And so he'd explained this before.

He also made note, as he wrote to the church at Galatia and to the church at Corinth, he had made known to them that these things, I'm not just cooking them up, I hadn't just had it passed along to me, but I was directly revealed it by the Lord Jesus Christ. He gave me these things. I'm passing along to you things that were directly revealed to me, not just hearsay, not just spiritual gossip. As we go through this here, Paul is sharing, he says, the Jews and the Gentiles have become fellow partakers of the gospel. He's continuing that message that he spelled out in detail and explaining the background of it and the importance of it as he goes through this passage here. Then he says, when you read, you can understand. Now hopefully you can.

But a key thing to draw from this is God's word was meant to be understood. Yes, it was meant to be understood. It's possible to look at that and try to figure out, okay, what does he mean by that? But here's the bottom line. Things that are revealed to us in God's word have been revealed, because God indeed intends and desires that we understand what's revealed. An awful lot of our culture, and frankly even an awful lot of churches, have lost sight of that.

It is intended to be understood. God had an intended message and meaning in what was written. When the authors of scripture, approximately 40 in number, wrote, they wrote with the idea that you would understand what was being written. There is an intended meaning, an intended message. And why is it intended to be understood? Because it's intended to be used.

Not just for this time, but eternally. Now, notice that that understanding isn't founded in subjective human reactions. One of the popular things these days with our postmodern culture is to focus not on what it means, but how do you feel about it? How do you feel about it?

And so, that ends up being the focus, instead of saying, what is God saying? And what Paul is putting the focus on here, he says, God had a particular message in mind, I have been entrusted with that message, I want you to understand it, and that's what God had in mind when it was revealed. To be understood, because you need to know it. our response that's the focal point, certainly he wants us to respond to it, but the focal point is the message by God's intent and by the author's intent. Now, when you read you can understand there's a key pair of words that comes out of this. One is just this word translated can, dunamai. Dunamai and dunamis are two related Greek words. We have in our English almost the unfortunate connection, that's where we get our word dynamite. The focus is not on exploding. Paul is not intending that we explode or that he explode. The focus is on ability. You are able to read it and understand. When you read it, you can, you are able to understand. And this word understand is noeo. Simple word.

Ephesians in several places, and also the book of Colossians, make the point that God enables us as believers. This is dunamai, the ability. He enables us as believers. And noeo, this word that means to understand, Paul uses that same word family, nous, when he writes to the church at Corinth. And he says, we have, we as believers, this is a positional statement, we have, as believers, the mind of Christ. So that's why he's saying, when you read it, you are able to understand, to have that mind of Christ, to have that understanding, the understanding that Christ has and that he has given to us because we are in him. Then he has this having insight into, like the King James has knowledge of there, It's a word pair, synesis-en.

Synesis by itself means to put together. You could use it kind of our own modern vernacular, to have it together. Somebody has it together. Synesis-en, however, is a special meaning. Just adding that extra little short word there is a combination that has particular meaning and it comes to this.

It means to have penetrating insight, to have deep insight and understanding. so that you have a full sense of perspective about something. That's what the Word is talking about. It says you can understand my full depth of understanding, my penetrating insight, my fully biblical and heavenly perspective, is what he's spelling out there, of the mystery of Christ. I want you to read and understand so that you share the same perspective and depth of understanding that I have because Christ revealed it to me. That's what Paul's telling.

Now, senesis sin is used in the Greek Old Testament book of Daniel powerfully in Luke 2.47. Here's why I put focus on these two words.

That same pair of words is used in Luke 2.47. Here is Jesus, 12 years old. You're familiar with the account likely. 12 years old. He's in the temple.

He's talking to the scholars at the temple and they are astounded at his sunesis in, his insight and depth of understanding. It's that depth of understanding, that mind of Christ that Paul says that we as believers have, and that Paul is seeking to communicate to you as a believer. Paul does not want for him to be off in some little corner of understanding and for you to have some foggy notion. of the spiritual depth and truth that's here. He says, I want you to read it and to have that depth of insight that I have directly because of Jesus Christ. The same mind of Christ that we all share because of our position in Christ. That's what I want you to have and what God intends.

Now, we come to this word mystery. Now, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking this word. Now, those of you who are new, you're going to get introduced to something. But, alright, I know what you're thinking. This word's showing up, and you're thinking, I'm going to show a picture, right? I know what you're thinking of. I'm going to put a moose on there, right? I don't want to disappoint you. Okay. Alright.

Now, so, he talks about the mystery of Christ, okay? This musterion. We've said before that this word communicates as it's used in the New Testament. By the way, this is a different definition from what you probably thought of before. But the New Testament uses the word mystery in this way, and that is to reveal a truth previously unknown, a truth unknown before but now revealed. That's the meaning of mystery in the New Testament.

That is how Paul uses this word. And so what might take us off guard here a little bit is what we can look at and we say, well, look at what Paul says is a mystery. Hmm. Sorry about that. Anyway, the mystery of Christ. Now, that might be a little surprising to you, more than the moose. OK, the mystery of Christ. Why you say, wait a minute, Christ has already been revealed decades before this.

So what's he talking about? Well, let's take a look there. Paul uses, as he writes, various combinations of Jesus, Christ, Lord, mixes them up, combines them different ways. You can find in his letters just about every combination of those words. Here, the combination that he uses includes in the Greek a definite article, THE Christ.

The Jews who lived in Ephesus would have read this and said, ah, that means the Messiah, THE Messiah. Now, wait a minute. The Messiah was revealed in the Old Testament, right? How is this a new revelation? So this leads to some question marks there. What's Paul thinking here? Isn't the Messiah someone the Jews had anticipated centuries before? Haven't they for centuries been looking for him? Why is this anything new? Might have you scratching your head here a little bit. Don't scratch too hard and long. It's not healthy. Okay.

Why does Paul say that this is a new revelation, never before revealed? Now, there are dozens of prophecies in the Old Testament pointing to the coming Messiah. There's no question about that. The Jews knew well that the promised Messiah would come. As a matter of fact, today, Orthodox Jews anticipate this outline of the future.

They say that at some unknown period of time, there will be a seven-year period of great trouble and tribulation on the earth, at the end of which the Messiah will come. How about that? That's what they're looking for. So they're anticipating it, but they just say he hasn't come yet. What they knew nothing about, because it hadn't been revealed, even though they had multiple revelations regarding the Messiah, was Christ dying to put the law out of commission. They say, you must be kidding me. The law out of commission? How can that be? In order to create this new body of believers.

Jews and Gentiles together on the same level called the church. You see, Gentiles could come into the Jewish faith, but they came in as outsiders. And they remained outsiders on a secondary level. One foot inside and one foot outside. Never quite on the same level as those who were born Jews. This was a radical change. No difference between Jews and Gentiles. and it's because the Messiah that they had anticipated came. And the great majority of Jews didn't even recognize Him when He came. Radical, radical revelation. Now that's different. Now we go on to verse 5.

He says, Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. Heteros genea is what he spells out there. It means not just an other, as if it were a generic other, but another of a different kind. So other generations, but not just some other, but specifically another generation of a different kind. So in the other generations of a different kind of generation, it was not made known. But now in this generation, a new kind, It has been made known.

A difference here, a real difference. Paul makes a distinction, notice, of generations rather than simply time. Yes, time is involved, but what does he do? He puts the focus not on just time as some sort of impersonal chronometer, but he puts the focus on people.

You see, the revelation is to people. The salvation brought by Christ is to people. The bringing about of this church. It's about people, isn't it? What God is all about doing has to do with people. So he mentions here another generation. He says later on, even, the sons of men, to put the focus on human beings. People are a necessary aspect of what God is doing here.

That's critical. And that's a good thing, too. It includes us. Now, he says, This word made known here, we point out last week that Daniel chapter 2 in the Greek Old Testament uses the same Greek word here, made known, just in that one chapter, 12 times. Lots of reference to that one word.

It is God who takes the initiative as he did with Daniel. Because remember Daniel chapter 2 is where Daniel stands for the first time before Nebuchadnezzar and said it is God who reveals secrets. It isn't that we are crafty and clever and somehow just such wonderful people that God decided to reveal something to us. God took the initiative on his own part because of who he is and because of his eternal purpose to reveal to us. God did the revealing. Now, what Paul is revealing, however, is unique and new. The reference that Paul makes is to Daniel chapter 2, because it's the same God who does the revealing. We see here a progressive revelation. God revealed through time, up through the New Testament era, progressively, didn't he? This was like and kind in the sense that God is the one who takes the initiative to reveal, but different in content.

Different in content. Now he says, known to the sons of men. Again, what do you see a second focus on? It's people that this is focused on. It's not just about rocks and trees and stars. This is about people, people for whom Christ died. People that God brought together to create the church, to bring about the church.

It's only used in one other place in the New Testament, this phrase, the sons of men, Mark 3.28.

It's used dozens of times in the Old Testament, including, curiously enough, Daniel chapter 2, verse 38. Paul is continuing to draw upon the phraseology and the words from Daniel chapter 2. At the same time saying that we're also revealing something, same God doing revealing, but we're also revealing something entirely new. Meanwhile, continuing to draw on centuries-old patterns of words and phrases from Daniel chapter 2.

To be a son of, and you probably recognize this as you read through particularly the New Testament, for example, this person is the son of Belial, or, as we read, the son of God. To be a son of something meant to have intimate relationship to, and to have a character like. So, the son of God has intimate relationship to the Father, and to have a character like the Father. So, you get son of, Whatever you see that in the New Testament, it has that meaning.

Okay. This is in contrast to the broad mass of humanity. There are select instruments. In other words, here's the Sons of Men. Now we see it's to the Holy Apostles and Prophets. And we'll get to that phrase here shortly. So this has now been revealed, okay? the other generations, the Heteroskeneia, okay? Now, this word now focuses on, okay, ready? Now, now's the time it's revealed.

You may not believe it, but years ago I ran track, that's when I could run. And I ran track and, you know, they have a starting gun, okay? And you weren't supposed to go before that gun went off. And you get in your blocks, you get set, they give you some marks, but that gun went off, then it's now, now's the time. This is what God did. He said, OK, get ready, get ready, get ready. OK, reveal it now. This is the right time. This is the appointed time. No starting guns going off, but the same idea.

Now, the revealing, six times in the Greek Old Testament of Daniel again, how about that, is by his own initiative, otherwise unknowable to human beings. Now this phrase, his holy apostles and prophets, It shows up with a minor variation three times in the book of Ephesians. We've seen one of them already, and this is now the second. Each time it has a particular purpose, as we'll see shortly, that purpose is different each time he brings it up.

Now, so who are these guys? You've got the Apostles and the Prophets. Why does he list both of them? The Apostles, the Apostle means special messenger. The Apostles were special messengers from the Lord sent for a particular purpose to convey the good news of Jesus Christ. They had an appointment by God to deliver the message that they were given, a special commission.

Secondly, oh, by the way, we asked the question in Ephesians 2.20, are the apostles profitable? Now we need to talk about the prophets.

But now, as we see here in Ephesians 2.20, it says, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the prophets were given to the local churches to kind of fill them in during the time before the New Testament had been all collected and distributed. So each individual church would have revelations specific to that church's needs up until the time the New Testament was completed, at which time they could rely upon what had been revealed by the apostles in the New Testament. That's why Jude 3 says, I urge that you contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. By whom? By the Apostles.

Ephesians 2.20, we saw this phrase, Apostles and Prophets.

We see here in Ephesians 3.5, this Apostles and Prophets again.

And similarly, in Ephesians 4.11, we haven't gotten there yet, but it's another place where it shows up, reference to Apostles and Prophets with a little phrase before each one, some as Apostles and some as Prophets.

Ephesians 3.5 is of course our present passage Now, what we're going to do here, we're going to squeeze these guys.

You ready? We're going to squeeze these guys. Don't worry about it. They'll be all right. Sometimes it's good to put the squeeze on somebody. It's just the right thing to do. What we're going to do is squeeze that a little bit so we can put some notes on the side. That's what you have on your handout on page four.

Ephesians 2.20, it says, having been built on the foundation, so what is the purpose of the apostles and prophets?

They are foundational. They are foundational at the beginning of the church. We don't have apostles and prophets now, just like you don't keep on building a foundation and building a foundation and building a foundation. Eventually build a building on top of it, right? So the prophets and apostles were foundational, point one.

Ephesians 3-5 that we see here, they are also revelational. They are for revelation. That's their purpose stated in the current passage. When we get to Ephesians 4-11, we'll see the third purpose for these guys, and that's for edification. So, foundation, revelation, edification. Each of them in sequence. One of the things that we'll also see as we get to Ephesians 4-11, which won't happen real quick, but we'll get there, is the foundation and the revelation are built for, they have the purpose of edification.

We have the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets. They have revealed truth for us from God for the purpose of our being built up, our edification. Now, one of the other things that comes out as we look at each of the three of those verses is each of the verbs has God being the one that's doing it. Isn't that interesting? Apostles and Prophets are mentioned. They have a critical place But notice, every single time, they're brought up.

God is the one. Having been built. Passive. God's the one who did the building. Now been revealed. Who did the revealing? God. And we'll see who gave the apostles and prophets? He gave. God's the one who owns the verbs. He's the one who's in action here. The apostles and prophets are in response to God's acting for your benefit and your behalf. In the spirit, or actually the King James has by the spirit, which I would say is actually probably a better representation there.

This phrase was also in the prior use in Ephesians 2.20 of apostles and prophets. So we have twice. Now we have apostles and prophets and then in the spirit or by the spirit in the King James. The end is instrumental. That's why I say the King James translation actually carries it across better. The apostles and prophets receive the revelation and have their role by the work of the Holy Spirit. It's the Spirit's doing that accomplishes these things. Oh, I forgot something. One more thing. Okay, the Father does the revealing. We notice that from Ephesians 1, 8 and 9 about Christ by means of the Spirit.

Guess who's involved? You have the entire Trinity, all three persons involved in revealing to you and bringing these things about. All three persons of the Trinity involved. All of God is involved in your spiritual growth. All of God is involved in your understanding and knowing these things. All of God for all of you. of the three persons being involved is also found in other places.

We've seen it before in Ephesians. We're going to continue to see it again as we go through these passages in Ephesians. Anyway, okay. Now, in verse 6, verse 6 here, to be specific, the Gentiles are fellow heirs. Now, as we get into this passage, there's a pattern here, and we want to follow this pattern.

Ephesians 3.6 and 3.7 each have a pattern. I want to take a look at that. Here's the pattern of Ephesians 6. It comes out a little bit more visibly in the New American Standard, but we'll explain in a minute why the pattern was built there from the way Paul wrote in the Greek, and the translation is secondary.

One of the things we see here is reference to the Gentiles. He wants to make it real clear, because remember he's writing to Jews and Gentiles, and he says, to be specific, that the Gentiles, those who are non-Jews, And by the way, we've seen before in our earlier studies, the Jews had other names for these guys besides Gentiles, but we won't repeat all those here. The Gentiles, the ethnos, that's where we get our English word, ethnic, is in contrast to the Jews. These are all you non-Jews out there. They are fellow heirs. To a Jew reading this and hearing this for the first time, this would cause them to gasp. You must be kidding!

Fellow, in the New American Standard, comes out consistently. King James does the translational differently, but in the Greek behind there, there is before each one of these words a prefix, sun. It's not the sun, not the moon, but the sun. Remember that? Which means together. Together. So, together heirs, together members, together partakers. That's the way he's writing here. Heirs, this is the same word with the prefix sun. They just plug the prefix sun on top of it. It was used in 1 Peter 3, 7, where the husbands are told, your wives are together heirs with you. Your wives are together heirs with you. There is neither male nor female. There is neither Jew nor Greek. in Christ, your position in Christ as heirs is singular. You are together heirs.

And he's spelling that out to them. To the Jews, this was phenomenal to hear because they had been told for centuries those Gentiles are some people apart. They would call them wild dogs and other such names. Now they're saying, wait a minute, you're brought into the church as together heirs, jointly, no distinction. You don't get to put them on some secondary platform, right alongside together heirs.

He keeps focusing, it's like he keeps driving the point home. Together heirs, together members, together partakers, fellow, fellow, fellow, each one. Fellow members of the body, all have been made one, we were told that in Ephesians 2.14.

They have the same foundation, Ephesians 2.20. Our fellow citizens, the Jews and Gentiles both, placed into the body of Christ by the Spirit, 1 Corinthians 12, 13. He keeps underscoring and underscoring and underscoring the Jews and the Gentiles in the body of Christ are in exactly the same spiritual position. Your foundation is the same. You are of the same body. You are made one, singular, not two groups with one a little bit better than the other. You are fellow citizens. Jews, Gentiles alike have their names written as citizens of heaven, okay?

Partakers of the promise. Now you say, promise? What promise? Which one? You see, we really don't need to go searching far and wide for what promise he's talking about, and we don't need to do as some have done and take promises from Israel and say, hey, I'll take that one, okay? Instead, The message is as simple as this. Hey folks, if you believe, you'll be saved. There's your promise. I promise. If you believe, you'll be saved. See? It's that simple. No need to get complicated about this thing. Those who believe will be saved. Think about Paul.

Here he is talking to the jailer at Philippi. The jailer's kind of hard-pressed because there'd just been an earthquake. and a lot of the shackles have been coming off and the doors rattle loose. That area, by the way, gets lots of earthquakes. And so the jailer's in trouble because the law under Roman law is if you're a jailer and your prisoners get loose, you die. So the jailer's kind of tense about this whole thing.

You can understand that. So anyway, he's He's kind of out there, he may have had his sword just about ready to plunge into him and he comes and asks Paul and Silas and he says, how might I be saved? And Paul doesn't come out with, well let me bring out my systematic theology here, I've got eight volumes and we'll just read, no. He says, puts it as simple as this, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. There's your promise. That simple. You believe it? You believe it? There's your promise, you'll be saved.

Now, to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, Paul told a similar message to the Church of Galatia, didn't he? There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female, you're all one in Christ. If you belong to Christ, then you're Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. What promise?

Salvation by faith. That simple. Let's look at verse 7 here. This is also a verse of pattern. Of which I was made a minister. This according to stands out here, but we need to ask the question of what is of which? And we're not talking about things with tall black hats and points on the ends and all that stuff. Of which?

Paul is referring to the gospel as shown by the end of Ephesians 3.6 here. The gospel of which he's talking about.

He says, I was made a minister. Now, Paul was made a minister. Notice it's passive. God did the making. God deserves the credit. Paul isn't saying, boy, I just stepped up and I was a minister. Boy, was I good. He says instead, no. God decided. God made me a minister. He's the one that did the making. As a matter of fact, I was on my way to Damascus to take out some Christians. And he got in my way. Things got awful bright. And so God deserves the credit. God did the making here. It wasn't Paul's boasting point. This Greek word for minister is diakonos. It's also used for deacons. And it has the idea of action, serving. A person called to serve by God's doing. God's calling them into action.

Then there's the pattern here, according to. That's just the Greek word kata, it means consistent with. Paul was made a minister consistent with its source in God. And then, real interesting, Paul's having been made a minister at its source in God, the message of grace was gifted, Doria, To Paul, by God, and the energizing, energeia, was by God's enablement. This is a word we've seen similar up above.

You can understand, you are able to understand. The enablement here is dunamis. Now, as we look at this pattern, there's nothing about this ministry that comes from Paul. You see that? He says, yes, I was made a minister, but I've got nothing to brag about.

It was God that did the making of a minister. It was according to the gift of God's grace given to him, according to the working of His power, the carrying of it out, the doing of it, is God's doing. The position I was given, the message I was given, the power to give it out is all His. God is the one who deserves the credit. He says, I'm not claiming anything.

Notice that as we study through Ephesians and Colossians, and even as we study through Philippians, God keeps coming back through Paul to the energizing of the believer. This is critical. This is important. We'll get to Ephesians 3, 20 and 21. He says, Now to him who is able, here's that word dunamai again, to him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think according to the power, dunamis, the related word, that works, energeo, within us, that energizes us. He's not done. Colossians 129, which we've already looked at, for this purpose also I labor, striving, and by the way he uses athletic terms there, striving according to his power, there's the word dunamis again, which mightily works, energeo, within me, which mightily energizes me.

I carry out the gospel, he says, with an athletic effort, with athletic intensity, not by my own power, but because of his. I am able because of his empowering and energizing, period. He did it. He does it. He gave it. It's his to do. It's his to carry out. Ephesians 4, that we haven't gotten to yet either, but it also carries a similar message.

The work within the church body is also, look at on the right side there, done according to the proper working, energeia, where we get our word energy, of each individual part. There is an energizing that is the source of the building up of the body. It's not just because this person is a great person and that one here works really hard. It is God's energizing that builds up the body.

It is His doing. in our lives individually and with the body corporately and together. That's what counts. That's what matters. So no matter what we're doing, whether we're tying our shoes or running in them, whether we're vacuuming our house or building one, whether we're playing basketball or any other kind of ball, whether we're out shopping or taking things back, whether we're driving, or the kids are driving us, or whether we're handing out bulletins in the morning.

All those things, it is God's desire and design that we be empowered and energized by Him. We are able. Dunamis, we have the power, the enabling, by His energizing. That's God's design and intent for every single believer. even when you have to go home and eat more turkey. All the things that the Lord has for us, things that we're looking forward to in the days and the next year ahead, should the Lord wait so long.

All those things, it's God's desire and design that the ability for that be from Him and not from us. The energizing for those things be His energizing and not ours. not our activity. So, if there's things to do, go ahead and get busy, but don't do it yourself. Don't do it yourself.

It's His intent to energize us, just like He did Paul. The same energizing that caused Paul to write this letter and to go to the places he did is the same energizing that the Lord has in mind for us. when we walk out of here and tie our shoes and vacuum the floor and all the other things we do.

Let's praise him for it. Thank you, Lord. As we look here at this last meeting of the year and look forward to the next, this next year will take lots of energy, energizing, and yet it is your desire that that energizing be from you, that the ability to carry out the things that must be done in the days and weeks and the year ahead Let those be your ability because of who you are and your life in us. We thank you for that. Praise you, Lord, for your faithfulness shown through this year and the faithfulness that we can count upon in the times ahead. We praise you. Thank you. In Jesus' name, amen.