God's Mystery Made Known part 1

Come to the feast. We have been singing that one together for years. I love that one. It's real rich. I thought about that phrase about going to the highways and hedges. I was off in some hedges before I was converted to Christ. I'm thankful that a people in a church and individuals went into those highways and hedges to find a person like me. Of course I know it was Christ that was seeking me all along, not just people. So Christ through people. So it's real worshipful for me. I appreciate Brother Keith singing that song. Well let's take our Bibles. Let's turn back to Ephesians chapter 3. I think I said this earlier.

We are transitioning into a new chapter. We finished up chapter 2. But we're going to be in Ephesians chapter 3 verses 1 to 6. We'll spend a little more time in verses 1 and 2 to be honest with you. And then I will reference some other scriptures and you can write those down and you can put all those together and go back and study them as you study the message throughout the week. I hope that you do that. Because it's our desire not just to be hears of the Word. We want to absorb all that the Lord gives us. And we want it to assimilate into our mind. Now this morning we are moving into a new chapter.

Now when we get into the new chapter right away we're going to see some things that we are familiar with. First of all we're going to see Paul in his really really large heart. He has a big heart. We can see Paul's heart in all of this writing. Even when he's dealing with some very difficult doctrinal teaching. Right away we see Paul's great love and his care for the Ephesians. This people, this church that he dearly knew and loved. And this comes out in several ways. Two ways here in chapter 3. Starting in verse 1 Paul prays for the Ephesians. Paul is praying for the Ephesians.

Really this is kind of a continuation of Paul's prayer for heart that we see all through the book of Ephesians. We see this back in chapter 1. We can turn back a page or two and look at chapter 1 verses 15 to 16. I want you to see this prayer for heart. Chapter 1 verse 15 Paul says, "For this reason I too, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which exists among you and your love for all the saints, I do not cease giving thanks to you while mentioning you in my prayers." And then on down in verse 18 he says again that he prays for them. So starting in verse 1 we see that Paul is praying for the Ephesians.

But there is an odd thing here in these verses. And what I mean is that something interesting happens. Paul interrupts his own prayer and he does not come back to this prayer for a while. From the construction of the language we can see that Paul begins his prayer in chapter 3 verse 1. And then he abruptly leaves his prayer and he does not resume the prayer until verse 14. It's really noted in our English translations. Most of you probably have a hyphen there in your English translation between verse 1 and verse 2. Look at the verses and you'll see what I mean.

Chapter 3 verse 1 Paul says, "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles." It probably has a hyphen there. My New American Standard does. And then it transitions. It changes in verse 2. But look over into verse 14. You'll see Paul say the same thing again. "For this reason I bow my knees before the Father and then he goes on into prayer." So we see Paul's heart here for the Ephesians through this prayer. Even though he interrupts this prayer with his own teaching. Now for me there is a big lesson here. And what I mean is this. I should always be in prayer for you.

Paul was constantly, continuously in prayer for these Ephesians. Sometimes it's hard to determine when he's teaching and when he's praying. Sometimes he's teaching as he's praying. And so if Paul had a burden for prayer for this church. And if he says earlier in chapter 1 that he never ceases to pray for them. I should have the same type of heart. We should have the same type of heart. We as leaders should pray for you. And we should pray for one another. And may we ask God to help us to have this type of heart. That we would be praying for each other in the work here. But then starting in verse 12. Paul begins to teach.

He begins to instruct the Ephesians. And in his teaching Paul emphasizes his calling and his great responsibility that he has. And he explains the mystery of God that was being revealed in them. Of course that mystery was that the Gentiles were included in God's plan. In the redemption of man and that was from the beginning. So starting in verse 12. We see Paul explaining certain vital truths to the Ephesians. And this teaching is simply inserted in Paul's prayer. As a matter of fact several commentators and scholars that I read. Called verses 12 to 13. One big parenthesis. I mean one big parenthesis. They're just inserted in the prayer.

Now a question here. Why did Paul do this? Why did he seemingly interrupt himself? Was this out of excitement? Did Paul have a hard time maintaining his thoughts? And did he even have a hard time organizing his material? Brother Keith and I were talking about this this week. We're talking about some of our preparation together. Brother Keith made the comment that if this were us we would probably deviate not to teach. But we would probably deviate today's dream. Now it would seem that Paul did not feel that they were ready for the prayer. It seems that Paul felt that they needed to understand certain things here.

And it seems that he's interrupting his prayer to teach key truths and certain realities before they could receive and understand the prayer. Before they could hear his prayer and the things that he was praying for. It just seems that they needed to be taught some very important information. And some of this is a reminder. So we see Paul's heart for the Ephesians through this teaching and this prayer. These were truths that he had taught before. And he felt strongly that they needed to be repeated and they needed to be emphasized. Now this is another lesson. There are truths and there are things that we need to repeat.

There are times when you need to hear certain teaching over and over. I was reminded of that in our study of the Gospel of John. How many times did Jesus repeat certain things to the disciples? So if it seems like Paul is repeating himself it's because that repetition was needed. So I say all of that to say this. Here in chapter 3 we see Paul's great heart for these Ephesians. We have this great heart of prayer. We have this great teaching and his instruction that comes out of his heart. And we finally get to see this prayer. We will get into this prayer when we get into verse 14.

And like I said earlier, sometimes it is hard to tell where his prayers start and stop and where his teaching starts and stops. But inserted in this prayer, Paul was explaining and elaborating on God's great mystery that had been revealed to them. He was explaining more of this great mystery that had been made known to Paul and made known to them and was being made known in them. So that just brings me to the title of the message. It comes right out of the verses. God's mystery made known. I think you'll see that that is the theme of these verses and the thrust of what Paul is dealing with. Now a question here before we get into the verses.

How was this mystery made known? Of course we have Paul here. We have the Ephesians. We have the Ephesian church. How was this mystery made known to the Ephesians to Paul? And we know that the region was affected by the ministry of the Ephesians. How was this mystery made known to the other churches? They had no podcast. They had no website or even an old-fashioned radio ministry. They had no conference circuit. They had no TikTok videos. They had no social media. So how? How was this mystery made known and everything connected to this mystery? Well that leads us to the first thing that I want us to see. And that is the man Paul.

And I want us to look at his role. I want us to look at Paul's role. We see this in verse 1. "For this reason I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles." And we see this in verse 2 as well. "If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you." Now here in verse 1 and 2, Paul uses terms to describe who he was and what he did. Who he was and what he did. John MacArthur says that Paul gave his credentials at the beginning of the book. Think about it. I think you know what credentials are. He gave his credentials in chapter 1 verse 1 when he identified himself as an apostle.

And that definitely was one of his credentials. He was an apostle. Where here Paul gives more. Paul said that he was a prisoner and he was a steward. You see that in the verses. He was a prisoner and he was a steward. And these terms describe more of who he was and what he did. Now I want us to look at those two words. First notice that Paul called himself a prisoner. It's right there in verse 1. Paul had already told these Ephesians that he was under Roman house arrest. We know that. Actually he had been under arrest for about 5 years. He was under arrest for about 2 years in Caesarea. And then later in Rome.

And this is where he is writing this letter. From Rome. In Roman imprisonment. And we find these events starting in Acts chapter 21 verse 27. And it goes on into Acts chapter 28. And basically this is what had taken the place. This is the short story. The Jewish leaders had falsely accused Paul of taking a Gentile into parts of the temple that were forbidden to the Gentiles. Of course this wasn't true. Well Paul was taken before Festus and Agrippa, those proper authorities. And there he made an appeal to go before Caesar. And so Paul was taken from Caesarea to Rome to eventually go before Caesar.

So when Paul called himself a prisoner he wasn't using some type of a figure of speech. He was truly in chains. He was truly under arrest. He had been a prisoner for some 5 years. And he was going before Caesar. I don't know why I thought about it like this. This wasn't Otis going to jail in Mayberry. He was definitely a prisoner. But second, notice that Paul then called himself a steward. You see that in verse 2. He called himself a steward. Now if we look at the verse, we see that Paul did not actually call himself a steward. But he said that he had a stewardship or a stewardship had been given to him.

Now we need to see what this word means, what Paul is driving at and explaining. This stewardship can be seen as an administration. This speaks of management. This speaks of oversight. This speaks of responsibility. In Paul's day this word could speak of one who managed a household or they were responsible for an estate. In their day it could have been used to describe one who was an administrator over business or over properties or over monies. Simply this speaks of being a manager or of one who is responsible for certain things and certain jobs. They are an administrator.

They are a manager and they are responsible for certain things, certain responsibilities and even people. And in Paul's case, it certainly was people. I think some of us, most of us understand this term management. You know, we go to a restaurant and if there's problems with our order, we might ask to see the management. You know, if we go stay in a hotel, there's usually some type of a management. And if it's a restaurant or a hotel, we understand that we might be speaking to the one in charge. They might not be the owner, but they are management. They are maybe an administrator.

They are responsible for physical facilities, monies and even people. When Paul said that this stewardship was given to him, he was speaking of management. He was speaking of responsibility. In this stewardship, he was managing God's business. He was managing God's property. He was managing God's people. He was a manager over the things that had been entrusted to him, which was this apostolic ministry and the church, really, and the church is plural. The church is plural. But look right here. Paul's with me for a minute. I want you to ponder over three words. Really, these are in the form of three questions. These are easy for you to grasp.

The question what? The question who? And the question why? What is this all about? Who is all of this for? And why was all of this taking place? You see, Paul was a prisoner of Christ Jesus, the text says, for the Gentile's sake, the text says. Go back to verse one. Paul says, "For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, and even though the Jews had arrested and charged him, Paul wasn't a prisoner of the Jews. Even though he had appealed to Caesar, eventually he would appear before Caesar. He wasn't a prisoner of Rome. He belonged to Christ Jesus. He was called by Christ Jesus.

He was walking in obedience to Christ Jesus. And in the construction of the language, it even emphasizes that Christ was the actual cause of his imprisonment. Now, right here is when we would say, you know, that's not really fair. But that's the case. So if he was a prisoner while being in obedience to Christ, walking in obedience to Christ, and obeying God's call on his life, well, he was a prisoner of Christ by the will of Christ. And then also, Paul was a steward of Christ for the sake of the Gentiles. Look back at verse two.

"Indeed, you have heard of the stewardship," you could even say, "administration of God's grace, which was given to me for you." Paul knew he wasn't an apostle because of his own choosing. Paul knew he wasn't even a Christian because of his own choosing. He knew it was by grace that he had been saved, and by grace that he had been appointed and called to be an apostle. And here Paul was saying that he had been given a stewardship. He had been given an administrative responsibility by God's grace. So he had this great responsibility.

He had this stewardship, this responsibility on his life and in his life, and he had received it by the divine call of God and by the grace of God. And this is what I'm trying to show us. This is what I want us to get at. Paul was a prisoner of Christ for these Gentiles, for this church. That means that his imprisonment was for the church and for these people, and listen, they even, as a church and as a people, benefited from his imprisonment. Now, how is that the case? Well, first of all, because of his imprisonment, Paul was able to write the letter. Think about it.

Because of his imprisonment, the Lord Jesus Christ did specific things in his life that he could turn around and communicate to these people in this church. And that is hard for us to grasp. It might even seem unfair, but it was God's will that he be a prisoner for them. And these people in this church benefited from his imprisonment. And then also Paul was a steward of the grace of God, by the grace of God, for this church and for these people. They benefited from his stewardship. Actually, they were a product of his stewardship. Now, how was that the case? Well, Paul evangelized them.

The Lord Jesus through Paul was very instrumental in the birth of this church, you see? And because he was faithful in administering his responsibility and his call, they were a product of that responsibility. So notice, we see Paul's role. Notice that we see Paul's calling. Notice that we see Paul's position and his calling. He was an apostle, yes. And also he was a prisoner, a prisoner by the will of God, by the will of Christ. And for Christ and for this church, all of these things took place. And he was a steward. He was an administrator. He had a responsibility to administer God's grace to them as it was revealed to him.

Isn't that what we see in the verses? Let's go back and read verses 1 and 2. For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you, Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship, the administration of God's grace, which was given to me for you. Now for us, an application, I want us to see that there are quite a few lessons here for us. There's much that we can learn here from Paul's example and from Paul's life. First of all, I want to say this to you. Your prison of suffering is meant for Christ. Your prison of suffering is meant for Christ. Not only that, your prison of suffering is meant for the church.

And many times your prison of suffering is meant first for the church and then for you. I'll never forget years ago, a lady in our church was going through a difficult trial. As a matter of fact, she was converted to Christ. She was born again in the midst of that trial in a very serious, insomber way. And a low voice, she walked by me and she said, "Now I know what my trial is for." She understood that her trial was meant to produce Christ-likeness in her life and she embraced that trial under the lordship of Christ. She knew that she didn't do anything to bring that circumstance on her.

She understood that her prison of suffering was brought into her life by the divine will of God. And ultimately she knew that that prison of suffering was meant for the church. And listen, if we can learn to embrace our trials, our sufferings, no matter what it may be, if we can learn to embrace it as it is from the Lord and for the Lord and for the glory of God in our life and to be used in the lives of others, then we can have victory. Paul didn't have his mind on his circumstances. He was always on what? The will of God for his life. But then also, I know that we're not apostles here. None of us are.

We do not believe in apostolic succession, I know. But look, if we are truly born again Christians, we have a responsibility. Now I want to speak straight to you. If you are a member of Grace Life Church, you have, we have a responsibility. We all have a responsibility and we are all to be good stewards of all that we have and all that we are. Our physical possessions, our abilities, our talents, our opportunities, everything in our life physically. We are responsible for those things, but also spiritually. We are converted to Christ. We all have at least one spiritual gift. And there are some that have more than one spiritual gift.

But what I want you to see is this. God takes the spiritual and the physical, all of those things, and he brings them into our lives and we are to be good stewards of all that we are and all that we have. And listen, we are to be good stewards of using all of these things where? In the local church. In the local church. And I repeat this for you, or members of Grace Life Church. You should be good stewards of all that you have and all that you are. You should be being good stewards of using it all in the life of the church. Notice Paul said, I'm a prisoner of Christ and I'm being a good steward of that for you.

Might say, pastor, even this, even this difficulty. Yes. And again, Paul, our example, where did he use these things? Where was he a good steward? Where was he responsible? Was it in some parachurch organization? It wasn't even at the Kiwanis Club. No, it was in the local church. And notice, even when he could not come to that local church, he used his gifts and who he was in that local church. So we see Paul's role here and we have to ask, have we identified our role and are we fulfilling our role as we should with Paul as our example? So let's move on. I want us to see number two.

I want us to see the mystery made known and this is out of verse three. Paul deals with this mystery and it is being made known. Let's read the verses. I want to read verses one and two and then go right into verse three. They all flow together. For this reason, I Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles, indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief. And we've seen Paul's role. He was an apostle turned prisoner. He was an apostle turned prisoner by God and for the will of God.

He was a prisoner with a position and a purpose and he was a good steward. Specifically, verse two says that he was being a good steward of God's grace, which was given to him for them. But here in verse three, we see more specifically what that was. We see what this mystery was and more of what this stewardship was. Now question first, what was this mystery? What was this revelation? Don't we see those two words in the verse? This word mystery, this word revelation. So this mystery has to do with God's plan to include the Gentiles into the body of Christ, the church.

The mystery was that both Jew and Gentile were to be in Christ Jesus, therefore forming what? One new body and one new man. Simply this mystery was the church and the church being comprised of Jew and Gentile, Gentile and Jew. Go back to some verses that we studied. Chapter two verses 14 to 16. Paul speaking about this mystery here. That's why some of this is repeat. Chapter two verses 14 to 16.

For he himself is our peace who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity, which was the law of commandments contained in the ordinances that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both. Who are the both? Jew and Gentile in one body to God through the cross. In this spiritual body, this reality, this that he has been teaching and unfolding here, it was once hidden.

These truths, this reality was completely incomprehensible and unknowable before the time of the Gentiles when they were evangelized and brought into the church. And look, many of you know this. These things were so incomprehensible that some in the early church struggled to accept the Gentiles coming to faith and coming into the church. But in time, this mystery was understood and in time this mystery was accepted. But second, notice this mystery was made known to Paul. Look at the beginning of verse three. That by revelation there was made known to me the mystery. Paul clearly says that this mystery was made known to him.

Now, how did this happen? How did Paul come to know these things? He didn't have the New Testament. He was being written. Well, how did he know? Actually, here in the verses we're not really told. Some speculate that Paul could have come to know these things at his conversion. That was when he was traveling on the road to Damascus. That was when he met Christ. That was when he was converted to Christ in Acts 9. And notice, during those events, Ananias did hear directly from God that Paul was his chosen instrument to take his name to the Gentiles even to the Gentile kings.

But no matter if these things were made known to Paul at his conversion or later or at various times in his ministry, God himself made these things known to Paul. This was by direct revelation. But then third, this mystery was made known to them and in them. It goes from being made known to Paul and now it is made known to them and in them. Go back to verse 3. That by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief, excuse me, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery as I wrote before in brief and we see that it was made known to them.

Now, it is plain to see here Paul was mentioning something that he had written to them. There is a debate as to what he is talking about. Some scholars think that Paul was talking about things that he had just written. There are some scholars that speculate that Paul is alluding to some other writing that had been lost. Now, for me, I think it is just that some over-complicate things here. I think that the end of verse 3 and the beginning of verse 4, Paul is reminding them of what he had already written. I think he is reminding them of the book and what he had already written.

Paul had clearly unfolded for them the wonders of this great mystery. In a big part of chapter 2, Paul was declaring to them that the Gentiles, they were included in God's master plan for the salvation of man. But there is another side of this that I want us to see. Not only were these things made known to them in writing, but these things were made known to them and in them. Notice, these Gentile converts were portraits of this mystery of grace. They were all trophies of Paul's stewardship of grace to them. They were proof that God had included them in his great and glorious redemptive plan.

So notice how this mystery had been made known, really in a lot of different ways. The mystery of the Gentiles being included in God's salvation plan, it was made known to Paul. And because he was a good steward, it was made known through Paul, which was through his writing and through his evangelism. Christ, through Paul, had ushered these Gentiles into what? Into where? Into the church, into one body. They had become one body and one new man. Now for us in application, we must see that this mystery must be revealed and fulfilled even today. Not that we don't already know that the Gentiles are a part of God's plan. No, we know that.

We are Gentiles. What I'm showing you is this. We must see that this mystery must be revealed and even fulfilled today. Listen, there are others who are out there who do not know Christ. There are others who are far off. Remember in Paul's day, the Gentiles were those who were far off. They had to be brought near. And for us in our day, there are those who were far off. They are away from God. They don't know God. And I wonder what far off people God wants us to reach through Christ. And look, Paul was a good steward, wasn't he? He was a good steward of God's grace by doing what? By taking the gospel to these Ephesians.

And I wonder who is far off that we are responsible for. Sometimes it's our neighbors. Sometimes it's someone that's living in our own house. Sometimes it's a coworker. And it may even be some people around the world. But you see this mystery that was made known. And we have to ask if we are making this mystery known in our day as we should. So let's move on. Number three, I want us to see the mystery explained. We see this in verses four to six. The mystery it is explained. Let's go read the verses. Verse four.

And by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the spirit. To be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, the undertakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Now we have seen Paul's role, have we not? We have seen the fact that this mystery was made known to Paul and then to the Ephesians and then in the Ephesians. They were trophies of this great mystery.

And of course, this mystery is the fact that the Gentiles are a part of God's salvation plan. Well, here in verses four to six, Paul just continues. He offers more of an explanation of this mystery. First notice that Paul desired that they have understanding. Paul desired that they have understanding here. Look at verse four. And by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. Now Paul uses two key words here. The word understand and the word insight. I'm reading from the New American Standard. The word understand and insight.

The English Standard says, when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ. And look, if we get these two words, we can see what Paul is aiming for. This word understand speaks of what is received into the mind. And this word insight speaks of what results from revelation. And this has to do with the profound comprehension and understanding that God gives his own people. Paul was saying that he desired that they understand these great mysteries. In their minds, yes, but more. He was saying that he desired that they have profound spiritual insight and comprehension which can only come from God.

This was a spiritual and even an experiential word. This involved not just information, but a work of the Spirit in the heart and in the mind. And notice how Paul said they could get this. He says they got it from reading. What does he say? Verse 3, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief in the beginning of verse 4. And by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight. Look what we must learn here. We need spiritual understanding in the mind, yes. And we need spiritual insight and perception in the heart and in the soul. And look, we don't need to just have Bible knowledge.

We don't need to just store up the Scripture in our mind. We need a profound work of the Spirit of God in us so that we can move from Biblical knowledge in the head to gaining spiritual perception. Some of you might struggle to understand the difference. But, oh, folks, there are countless people who sit in the pews, who know the Bible backwards and forwards, but they do not have spiritual understanding and insight. It takes a work of the Spirit of God to enable you to understand not just what the Word says, but what it means and how it is fleshed out in the life.

And I'm going to give an example when we make application at the end of verses 4 to 6. But then notice, second, Paul desired that they have insight into God's plan. First, Paul desired that they have understanding. And then notice Paul desired that they have insight into God's plan. We see this in verse 5 and verse 6. Now, what Paul was wanting them to see can be seen and understood in two ways. First, the overall meaning of the mystery, and then second, the particular meaning of the mystery. Verse 5 is a little more broad, and verse 6 is more specific. In verse 5, Paul says that these things were not made known to the past generations.

Even though God had spoken of these things, this is the Gentiles coming to faith in Christ. Even though he spoke of these things to even Abraham back in Genesis 12, and even though these things were spoken of in Old Testament Scriptures like Isaiah 496, these things were not made known until New Testament times, specifically when the Gentiles were brought into the kingdom. And when Paul wrote things like what we have right here, these things were made known. And then in verse 6, Paul says that these things were made known to them, specifically that the Gentiles were heirs of the kingdom.

They were members of the body of Christ, and they were partakers in the promise in Christ Jesus. So Paul was explaining further God's plan in this mystery. These things were spoken of to Abraham, and they were fulfilled in them and in those churches, those Gentile churches. And get this, Paul didn't simply want this to be information in the head. He desired that these things would be understood in a great way by work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Now for us, there's a lesson here. We need to understand God's way of salvation, not just in the head, but we need to have spiritual understanding here.

These things must be experienced and understood. Paul was not simply wanting these Ephesians to just have a head knowledge of the things that they were experiencing. He wanted them to understand them in a profound and spiritual way. I'll never forget, I've said this before, I've used this example before. I'll never forget back in my home church days when I first came to Christ, my pastor faithfully taught the Word. And I remember when he taught through the kingdom parables, specifically he taught the parable of the sower.

And when he explained what it looked like for the one to come to Christ, and there were so many who were false converts, false professors, and one out of the four truly came to Christ, I'll tell you that rocked my world. Oh, I could assimilate the information, but I had to have insight and understanding, and I had to pray, and I had to even fast and get into the Scripture, and I had to have counsel. And finally God helped me not just to see the information, but to understand it, and to understand the implications of it, and to even apply it to my life.

And that's what we need for us today, that we would experience these things and have understanding. And this only takes, this can only take place if the Spirit does this work in us. So we see the mystery, it is explained in verses 4-6. Now as I move towards concluding the message, I want us to see how this needs to be applied in two ways. First, this mystery was made known to the Ephesians. Isn't that right? The knowledge, the experience of these things brought them certain responsibilities in their day. Paul did not just do these things so that they could see it and warm the pew. But a question, what were those responsibilities?

What were the responsibilities of the Ephesians? To go and make God's mysteries known. To go and to do likewise. To go and to do as Paul had done for them. And what did they do? Ultimately we know that the Ephesian church was the flagship church of the region. Ultimately we know that the other region, the region was evangelized and those other churches most likely came from the work that God did in the Ephesians, in the Ephesian church. But then also, this mystery has been made known to us in our day. It's been made known to us in our day. And the knowledge and the experience of these things bring about certain responsibilities for us.

Now what are our responsibilities? To go and to do likewise. To go and do likewise. To go and to make these mysteries made known to others. The fact that Christ came into the world to save sinners. Yes, those who are far off. And I'll say it like this. The Ephesian church was a flagship church for the region. We should be a flagship church for the region. Now I'm not saying we should be in competition with other churches, no. But what I mean is we should be a flagship church in the region to reach sinners and to impact other churches and even send missionaries in other places around the world. Isn't that what the Ephesians did?

I even go back to our study that we did in the book of Philippians with two or three sermons. They were Paul's number one supporters. But yet they did all of that in great obscurity and in great poverty. And so what I want us to see is this. This mystery has been made known to us in our day. And we have a stewardship to go make these things known. Reaching sinners, impacting other churches, and even sending others out. So what do we have this morning? I've already given you the title of the message. God's mystery made known.

My prayer and my heart's desire is that these mysteries will be made known in us and through us in the days and years to come.