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Having Coffee with Your Trials (James 1:2-4)

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The following message was delivered at Harmony Baptist Church in West Paducah, KY on June 22, 2014:

Introduction

As an Associate Pastor, I’ve had the privilege to counsel with many teens and church members alike. About a year ago, I counseled a middle school girl whose baby sister passed away unexpectedly. I did the best I could to share with her the comfort and compassion of God from the Scriptures. Just recently, for hours I counseled a young man whose uncle passed away from a heroin overdose that no one ever knew about. I’ve counseled many hours with a woman who has a wayward daughter with a severe drug addiction.

We all face trials in our lives. Charles Spurgeon says, “Sometimes God sends His mercies in a black envelope.” As a concerned pastor, I always try to share with our members the best advice from the Scriptures during their time of need. In our New Testaments we have a letter from a very concerned pastor. This letter is often called the “Proverbs of the New Testament” because of its wisdom. It is the letter of James.

The reason I have titled this message Having Coffee with Your Trials is because I would like you to picture yourself having a meeting with your trials. That’s the way our text presents trials to us: as a meeting. What are they? Financial, family, physical trials? Whatever they are, I want you to look them at them right in the face—look at them through the biblical perspective (as James presents) so that we can reap the full biblical benefit. As we delve into this pastoral advice from James’ pen, imagine yourself conversing with your trials about the truth from God’s Word.

The Text: James 1:2-4

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Trials are a very important thing to James as he is writing to this letter. If you’ve read your New Testaments for very long, you have probably seen that most authors of New Testament books or letters, introduce themselves and then express their thanksgiving for the believers (to whom they are writing) and offer up a prayer. But not so with James—he gets right down to what he think is most important—and that is telling his readers about the biblical perspective and the biblical response, and the biblical result of trials experienced by the Christian.

There are at least five observations to be seen here in this verse:

1. Trials Are to be Counted as Joy by Believers (v. 2a)

First, James dives right into exhorting his readers to do something: to count their trials as joy. However, before we can discover what James is saying by this, I think it is beneficial to discover what he is not saying: James does not say that joy is the only response to trials. He is not suggesting that Christians facing trials will never have any other response to them but joy. Christians have many different responses to trials—perhaps anger at God, shaking their fists at Him, begging to know: “Why did You let this happen?” Sadness is often a response to the trials Christians face. Exhaustion perhaps because of so many trials faced at one time. The response I have had so often to trials is just desiring to escape—I just wanted to get out. But James says that the response we are to have towards our trials is joy—we are to count them as joy. Further, James is not ordering all-encompassing joyful emotion during severe trials; nor is he demanding that his readers must enjoy their trials, or that trials are joy. Joy isn’t the only response, but it is the biblical response and you had better face regard your trials as joy if you are to reap the full benefits.

What he is saying is that trials should be an occasion for genuine rejoicing because we know that they produce perseverance in us. The Greek word for “count” here is a verb in the Greek; it is hegesasthe, and it is implying that an action be done. The word means to “consider, think, regard” your trials as joy. Now, joy is different than happiness. Joy depends on your relationship with God—while happiness depends on your circumstances. Happiness comes and goes, but joy remains. We are to have this “joy outlook,” on our trials.

Have you ever looked through a pair of 3D glasses? It’s alters your perspective. When you watch a movie, you see what seems to be real objects and real things happening to you in a theater. We need to put our biblical glasses on and view our trials through the lens of joy.

2. Trials Happen to Believers (v. 2b)

Not only does James say that we are to count our trials as joy, but he implies that trials happen to believers. Look at v. 2. To whom does he command to count it all joy? “My brothers.” This is James’ favorite address of his readers—he uses the word “brothers” 14 times in this letter. He was a concerned pastor of the Jerusalem church and loved his people. And he told them that trials happen to believers.

Many people believe that being a Christian means that you are immune to trials and difficulty. “Christians must really have it easy” they say, “Surely, as the children of God, nothing bad can ever happen to them. If God is truly their Father and He is filled with love and compassion, it must be true that all Christians live on easy street.” But that is the opposite of what James says here.

3. Trials Are Sure to Happen (v. 2c)

Trials are endured by both Christians and non-Christians. Jesus says, “For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Matt. 5:45). But even further to his point that Christians endure trials, James says that trials are sure to happen. Notice what a major difference one word makes in this text. Put the word “if” in place of “when.” “If you meet trials of various kinds. . .” But James doesn’t say that. He says “when you meet trials.”

God promises that trials will come. Not only here in James, but Christ Himself does: “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Let me ask you a question: Do you believe that your salvation is secure in the hands of God? Do you believe Christ when He says of you, “My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:29)? If salvation were in your hands—you’d lose it—but the holes in His hands are the proof that He’ll never drop you. You believe that promise with all your heart? Then you had better believe “In the world you will have tribulation” with the same assurance. It came from the same mouth.

Further, Paul writes, “But as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger” (2 Cor. 6:4-5).

4. Trials Occur Unexpectedly But Should be Expected (v. 2c)

James writes that trials happen when you least expect them. James says, “when you meet trials.” If trials are met, then they were not expected—but . . . we should expect them. The Greek word for “meet” here is peripipto, a verb that means “to fall into the hands of.” Now read it that way: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you fall into the hands of trials.” Isn’t that how it happens folks? You fall into the hands of an unexpected bill . . . you fall into the hands of a cancer, disease, or sickness . . . you fall into the hands of death or maybe family problems and the like. We don’t know these things are coming so wouldn’t it be wise to place our faith and trust in the One who knows they are coming? The One who knows all things? God knows when our next trial is coming—we ought to be trusting Him to give us the strength to face it when it comes.

How many of you have hit a deer with your vehicle before? Probably most of you. I’m sure you didn’t say, “Well, honey let’s go out tonight looking for a deer we can run over—oh and then we will take out a loan to get our car fixed because we totaled it.” No, every deer you’ve ever run over—it was unexpected. But since then, you are on the lookout for them every night. Driving slow in wooded areas because you know one of them might come out. Let’s have the same attitude about our trials—let’s expect them to come even when they are unexpected.

5. Trials Are Various: (v. 2c)

James also says that trials are of various kinds. The trials his readers were facing was most likely poverty and religious persecution. I say poverty because he makes clear that the majority of his readers are poor. One example: “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” (James 2:5). I say religious persecution because rich people at that time were persecuting the Christians by withholding from them their wages and pay: “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts” (James 5:4). But it’s interesting that James doesn’t explicitly say, “Count it all joy when you face trials of poverty and religious persecution,” because he could have. He was writing to a specific people with a specific purpose. But he was also writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. James casts the net widely including all of the many trials that Christians face simply by saying, “trials of various kinds.”
We face trials of all kinds: death of a family or friend, financial struggles (providing for your family, etc), dealing with disease or sickness, problems in the marriage, possibly your career is going down the drain. And to all of those, James says, “Count them all joy.”

What kind of response to you have towards your trials? Do you count them as a joy? Are you viewing your trials through the lens of joy?

You may say, “Alright, I want to regard my trials as joy, but why would I do that?” Why would you view your trials through the lens of joy? What reason is there to count your difficult trials as joy? James answers in v. 3: “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”

Other New Testament writers express this very same thing: Paul writes in Romans 5, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Rom. 5:3-4). Similarly Peter says, “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,  so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:6-7).

James gives his readers the reason for his seemingly irrational call to count their trials as joy. Here’s how it is possible to “count [your] trials as joy”: for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness/perseverance.

So there are two important observations to be made about v. 3 of our text:

1. Believers Ought to Know That Trials Are a Testing of Their Faith (v. 3a).

First of all, James assumes that his readers “know that the testing of [their] faith produces steadfastness.” It is on the basis of this knowing that they are able to count their trials as joy. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (vv. 2-3). They are able to count their trials as joy because of what God Almighty is doing in the midst of those.

You’re not alone in your trials! We serve a Christ who has been where we are: He suffered the same ways in which you have and the same ways in which you will suffer—in fact, He suffered much worse. God is faithful to those who are faithless, God is with us, God is in us, and God is for us. We have all we need in God alone and He is even working in our trials and difficulties: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6). God is working in your trials and He is refining your faith—and James says that you need to come to the place where you know that this is God’s purpose in trials.

The Greek word for “know” here is ginosko: To illustrate the importance of the word “know” here, it is helpful to see how it is used by other biblical writers:

Peter writes, “Knowing (GK: ginosko) this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). Peter is talking about the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Scripture, saying that nobody just came up with the Bible—it was penned by men of God under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. When Peter says, “knowing,” it’s the same Greek term as used here in James. The inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the writing of Scripture is a conviction that is held by evangelicals, in fact, if you deny that the Word of God was inspired by the Holy Spirit, then you deny the fact that it is the Word of God. And Peter writes here that we should ginosko this first of all—that we should know this; understand this deeply. And in the same way, James writes, I believe that we need to come to a place of spiritual conviction that we know that our trials are a testing of our faith.

Normally when you test something, you are testing the genuineness of it. For example, computer companies put their laptops, tablets, through a series of tests to see if they are going to hold up under years of use—lots of space/memory used, etc. They see how much a computer can take and they work on it to make improvements. Most tests we think of are for reliability—“Is this product useful? Is it reliable?” But if a company really cares about the customers, they will work to improve their product. That is the idea that James has here. He is not saying that trials are a test to see whether or not you are a Christian. He cannot be saying that, for even non-Christians experience trials. Even more, the test of genuine faith in Christ is a life of holiness expressed in good works: “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:14-26).

James is saying that God uses trials to perfect our faith and to make us stronger Christians—to produce in us steadfastness.
Why should you know that? So you can count it all joy. But the full joy doesn’t come without also knowing the rest of it: James continues. . .

2. Trials, Which Are a Testing of Faith, Produce Perseverance (“steadfastness”) (v. 3b)

James states here that trials produce steadfastness. James is not simply identifying with Kelly Clarkson by saying, “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger,” okay? James is saying that trials in life are intended by God to refine our faith: to get us so heated in the crucible of suffering so that impurities are refined away and so that we become pure and valuable before the Lord—trials are intended to purify the faith that we already have. Kent Hughes writes, “Here is how this works: we develop toughness or fortitude by repeatedly being tested and prevailing. The more tests we pass, the tougher we become. As a boxer engages in bout after bout, he toughens and becomes wiser and stronger. After a time he develops such fortitude, perseverance and staying power that he can take on the best. There is no way a ïĴghter, or any of us, can develop toughness without testing!” (1) 

What kind of perseverance is this? The perseverance mentioned here is like “spiritual toughness,” it doesn’t mean that you are going to become prideful and full of yourself, but that you will gain true strength for trials—you will learn to remain faithful to God when the going gets tough. He tells his readers to count all their trials as joy because it is a testing of their faith that produces. Proverbs offers us similar wisdom: “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and a man is tested by his praise” (Prov. 27:21).

Do you know that trials are a test of your faith or do you think that they are just “that old devil,” as some say? Do you count your trials as joy because you know they produce perseverance?

We have seen that trials happen to believers and are to be regarded as pure joy because we know that they are tests of our faith—and those tests produce perseverance. But James has yet more to say about this virtue of perseverance: “And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (v. 4)

As with the other verses we have looked at carefully, there are two observations to be made about what James writes in this verse:

1. Believers Ought to Allow Perseverance To Do Its Intended Work (v. 4a)

James writes to his readers: “Let perseverance do what it was intended to do! Let it have its full effect.” This is your response—let perseverance do it’s work in your test of faith. Matthew Henry writes, “Let us allow it to work, and it will do wonders in a time of trouble.” (2)

You need to regard your trials as joy because you know that they are a testing of your faith. That will produce spiritual toughness in you—but your response to all of it is this: Let perseverance have its full effect. Don’t hold back. Let God work in you. Why? What is the purpose of allowing perseverance to work in you?

2. Why Believers Ought to Let Perseverance Do Its Intended Work: Spiritual Maturity (v. 4b)

Testing, according to James, is intended to produce your Christian character—when you respond to your trials with confidence in God and determination to endure. Trials do not make you “perfect and complete,” it is allowing perseverance to do its intended work that makes you (eventually) perfect and complete.

Do you know how real pearls are made? When an irritating object, like a bit of sand, gets under the “mantle” of an oyster’s shell, he simply covers it with the most precious part of his being and makes of it a pearl. The irritation that it was causing is stopped by encrusting it with the pearly formation.

What seems like the worst thing you’ve been through in your life is actually an opportunity to grow in your dependence on God and allow Him to develop perseverance in you so that you will be like a pearl in your Christian walk—perfect and complete. That’s God’s ultimate goal for you—to make you perfect and complete like Jesus Christ. God is working in you every day to make you more and more like Jesus. Are you allowing Him to?

Are you allowing spiritual toughness to develop in you? Are you allowing perseverance to make you perfect and complete in your Christian walk?

Conclusion

We have seen today that trials are to be regarded as pure joy—and why? Because in them, God works perseverance in us to bring us to spiritual completion. We have also seen that trials are a testing of our faith that produces steadfastness. And in v. 4 we saw that we are to allow perseverance to have its full effect in us.

Are you viewing your trials through the lens of joy?
Do you really know that trials are a testing of your faith?
Are you allowing perseverance to be fully developed in you?

One of these days we will be free from this world of trials and sin—while we’re here, lets allow God to do what He wants with us during our trials. To quote C. H. Spurgeon, “It is true that we endure trials, but it is just as true that we are delivered out of them.”

1. Kent Hughes, James: Faith That Works (PTWC) (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1991), 19-20.
2. Matthew Henry, The New Matthew Henry Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2010), 2211.

 

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Ephesians: The Mystery of the Gospel Revealed (3:1-13)

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Introduction

Often times when we read an account like this, we tend to run over it, believing that it is not relevant for us today and we read on to the next passage. But the Bible says different: “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). This means that every portion is relevant for our lives. I don’t have to make the Word of God relevant; it is already relevant.

The Text

“For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. 4 When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 7 Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. 8 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, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things,10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. 13 So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.”

Paul, the Prisoner for Christ

First Paul writes, “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles. . .” (3:1)
For what reason? Well, look at Ephesians chapter 2. What is that chapter all about? The gospel that gives life and includes the Gentiles. This is the guiding purpose in all Paul does. So he writes, “For this reason [for the reason of this great gospel] I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles.” Paul was a prisoner at the time of writing this letter (You can read about that in Acts 28). Paul was a prisoner in Rome because he had been preaching the gospel. And Paul writes that he is a “prisoner for Christ Jesus” here in this passage. That is interesting to note, because he could have said “a prisoner, held captive by these filthy Romans.” It’s interesting because he doesn’t once place blame on anyone for his being held captive. Paul views his imprisonment positively. His imprisonment was definitely a hardship. His imprisonment was an embarrassment. But to our surprise, he gives little focus to his difficulty. He doesn’t blame the Romans, he doesn’t blame God, but you can almost hear a tone of honor in his voice as he says, “I am a prisoner for Christ Jesus.”

Paul’s theology of hardship never focuses on the hardship itself, but on the Christ, His gospel, and His people. We know this all too well from the pen of Paul to the Philippians: “12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear” (1:12-14). Yes, Paul is aware of something much larger than his own circumstances. He is aware of something of infinite worth. Something on which no value can be placed. Something worth giving up everything for. Something that is worth losing everything for—and that something is Someone, and He is Jesus. Was Paul’s imprisonment life-threatening? Of course. But Paul’s imprisonment did not define who he was. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ defined who he was.

The Gospel is What Defines

Let me clarify: Paul wasn’t talking about suffering as a result of sin and evil in this world. There are different types of suffering—death, sickness, and disease, but the kind of suffering he was talking about was suffering for Christ. And so we unearth a foundational truth of the Christian life: The gospel will cost you something. The gospel always costs you something. What matters is where your heart is when you lose things for the gospel. And when we will lose things for Christ’s gospel, Jesus asks us if our heart is in the right place when we suffer on His behalf. When we lose things for the gospel. And it’s in a very strange passage of Scripture: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). What Jesus is saying here is that following Him will cost you dearly. You know your dad won’t approve. He’ll roll his eyes and mumble something about you getting carried away with your religion. Your brother or sister won’t know what to make of your decision to lose everything for Jesus. Your friends may distance themselves from you. There’s a good chance your husband or wife will criticize you for losing everything for Jesus. And Jesus is saying, “Yep, that may be part of it. And if you’re not willing to choose me over your family (and over everything, knowing that you may lose it in this life), then you are not ready to follow, and maybe it’s time for you to go on home.”

If you lost everything for the gospel would it still be worth it?

Ephesians says yes. Because when you lose things for the gospel you are not really losing anything—but you are gaining that which is of infinite worth and that is God. Nothing on this earth can compare to God—not the greatest amount of wealth and possessions, not the most power, not popularity from anyone and everyone, not conquest, not great achievement—nothing ever will and ever can compare with the infinite worth of God. “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing” (Isaiah 40:25-26).

And nothing can ever take Him away from you. No force, no power, no nothing can every take you away from God if you belong to Him through faith in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:38-39). So what if you lose something for the sake of Christ and the spread of His gospel? That’s the attitude that Paul had here. Paul rejoiced in his suffering and counted it as an honor to be called a “prisoner for Christ Jesus.” And so asked his readers: “So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory” (v. 13).

Value the Treasure

Paul didn’t allow his circumstances to define who he was. He let the gospel do that. He was a prisoner for Christ Jesus. And we need to remember that the gospel defines who we are. Folks, the gospel is all we have. It’s all we need—but it’s all we have. This gospel is the good news that even though we are born haters of God (Rom. 1:30), sinners by nature (Eph. 2:3), enemies of God (Rom. 5:10), not seeking Him(Rom. 3:11)—that God had a plan from eternity to save us (Eph. 1:4) and that salvation was accomplished through Jesus Christ on the cross (Rom. 5:8) and is available to all who would turn away from sin and have faith in Him as Lord and Savior of their lives.

If you are a believer, no sin defines who you are, no past shame defines who you are, no difficulty in life defines who you are, not even death defines who you are—but only the gospel of Jesus Christ defines who you are and that gospel says that you are God’s forever, to enjoy Him forever and make Him your infinite delight.

Paul’s Apostleship

“Assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly” (vv. 2-3). Paul stops his prayer here and doesn’t come back to it until 3:14. He stops here to explain the nature of his apostleship and his ministry. Paul’s readers would have heard of God’s entrusting of His grace to Paul if they had only read the above chapters. That’s all it would take. In fact he states in the next verse: “when you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ” (v. 4). He says that he was steward of God’s grace. And he tells his readers that the mystery of the gospel was made known to him by revelation and he was written about it briefly. Paul viewed himself as a manager of grace. Why? Well he had a specific task given to him. In Acts 22, Paul says that Jesus commanded him: ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles’” (Acts 22:21, emphasis mine). Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles was unique, and God used Paul to write Holy Spirit inspired letters—and while we can never duplicate Paul in exactly every way, Paul’s theology of grace here really teaches us something that I think we often forget.

Grace Enlists

Grace enlists. Grace commissions. Grace always brings responsibility. Christianity is not a religion of works, but it is a religion of action. If we think that God’s grace is limited to the gift of salvation, and it stops there—then we are deceiving ourselves. This text forces us to reflect on the fact that grace enlists. We are all managers of grace. If we have received the grace of God, we are told to extend it to others: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” (1 Peter 4:10). In fact, you may disagree, but I would go as far as to say that if grace is not being worked out in your life, then you never had grace to begin with and are not saved. Grace always brings responsibility and forces us to take action folks. If we are not taking action in our Christian lives today, then did we have grace to begin with? Paul even says later in this passage, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power” (v. 7).

But let me clarify two things:

1) Grace doesn’t just enlist clergy. Grace doesn’t just enlist pastors, Sunday school teachers, and crazy youth pastors. All believers are called to extend God’s grace to others and to live in a way that draws people’s attention to Him. We are all ministers folks. In fact if you want the Bible’s specific definition of how we are all ministers, here you go: “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:18).

2) Ministry is God’s gift to you. It’s not your gift to Him. Often times we think we are doing God a favor when we engage in some spiritual project. But what is really happening is this: God is inviting you through obedience to glorify Him. God delights in that, but really it is a gift to us because we are enjoying God as we are glorifying Him. That’s the cool thing about our relationship to God. Our full joy in Him does not compromise His being glorified and uplifted. Those two things go hand in hand. For example, in the Westminster Catechism the first question asks: “What is the chief aim of man?” The answer there is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” It doesn’t say ends. We glorify God by enjoying Him. And we will enjoy Him as we extend His grace to others by doing things that will draw people’s attention to Him.

The Mystery Revealed

“When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (vv. 4-5) Paul says that when his readers read this, they can perceive into his insight into the mystery of Christ. This is a conditional statement. They will not understand the mystery without reading his letter. And Paul says that this mystery was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets. And it wasn’t. This “mystery of Christ” was not known to human beings in earlier generations. However, he insists that the Law and the Prophets (who in past generations attested to the gospel): “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it” (Rom. 3:21). Moses and the prophets had written of Christ and his coming salvation, and God even promised Abraham that all the nations would be blessed through him (Gen. 12:3), but the full realization of who Christ was and the great extent of His salvation that would come to the Gentiles was not clear until the giving of the Spirit. That’s how Paul says that this mystery was revealed: “by the Spirit.” The Bible attests elsewhere: “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 2:21, emphasis mine).

What is the ‘Mystery of Christ?’

Paul has made mention of this mystery a few times already and now he explains what that mystery is: “This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (v. 6). Here’s the mystery Paul says: These people who were separated from Israel and her God, (like we’ve seen before in Eph. 2) are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. How are they made into these things? “Through the gospel” (v. 6 b). What Paul is demonstrating here is a theology of unity. Paul has fought so strenuously for establishing the doctrine of unity between Jew and Gentile. In fact, that has been an aspect of our study in Ephesians since we started. Paul has a real concern for the inclusion of the Gentiles into the body of Christ. Paul is expounding the mystery of Christ and says that the Gentiles belong, and they are on the same footing as Jewish Christians and receive the same benefits. Their unity is not grounded in the similarity of skin color, their unity is not grounded in following the law, their unity is not grounded in anything else but the Lord Jesus Christ.

If being in Christ unites Jews and Gentiles into one body (members of the same body), does it not do the same for us with all other believers who are in Christ? That’s the theme we draw from Paul’s usage of language of reconciliation between Jew and Gentile that we have observed so much.

Unity: Are We Living It?

We are unified in Christ. Regardless of our differences. Regardless of our past. Regardless of any barrier that may make us different from any other person. If we are in Christ, we are unified in one body—Christ’s body. The question is not, Are we unified? The question is, are we living unified? We are not asked to like other Christians, we are not asked to be like them, agree with them, but we are to recognize and to put into action that we are one with them in the Lord, and we share the same benefits. When we realize that we are all “fellow heirs,” “members of the same body,” and “partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus,” we will view our brothers and sisters in Christ in a biblical way. We will see each other on the same level. We will encourage one another because we know that we all struggle with one ultimate problem: sin. We will worship as a family. And all sorts of other benefits.

Here’s where disunity starts to get damnable: if we do not live in unity, then we proclaim a false message to the world. The message of the gospel is a message of unity and a message of peace. And if our church life is characterized by divisions, strivings, and arguments, then we are putting our light under a basket, when we should be “letting [our] light shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

Unity is a lifestyle that we need to put time and effort into folks. We live in a day when people come to church to see what they can get. Some people come to church to fit their preferences and if they don’t get what they want, often times they leave. Or someone will have a petty disagreement with somebody or a wrestling with someone and they leave the fellowship. There are right reasons to leave certain fellowships and there are wrong reasons to leave certain fellowships. And if you’re someone who breaks from a fellowship because you didn’t get your way—that is a wrong, unscriptural reason to leave the fellowship.

Folks, when we meet together as a body—a great protest takes place. That’s right, a protest. When we fellowship together as a family, worship as fellow heirs, see each other as members of the same body, our presence together is a bold protest against division. We meet together as a body to protest divisions and to hold up our picket signs against divisions—and those picket signs have painted on them, “We are one in Christ!”

I Am the Very Least

After Paul describes what this mystery is, he goes on to say, “Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power” (v. 7). Again, Paul talks about the “grace-enlisting” that we discussed earlier. He tells his readers that he was made a minister of this great, triumphant gospel. How was he made a minister? “according to God’s gift of grace, which was given me by the working of his power.” Again, grace enlists. Grace enlists.

Verse 8 reads, “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. .” Paul maintains such humility here and says basically, “I of all people, was given this grace to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.” But what else was he given this grace for? “. . . and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (vv. 9-10).

Paul has said that this plan of the mystery was not revealed to “the sons of men in other generations” (v. 5), and the plan of this mystery (as he says here) was hidden for ages in God who created all things. Paul attests to God creating all things to imply that God doesn’t need a creator. That is the only rational explanation for the existence of the universe. Something (we know Someone) outside our realm of existence would have to supernaturally create the universe as we know it. And this something would have to have never had a beginning. Something that doesn’t depend on something else for its existence. This something is Someone and that’s God.

And Paul says that this plan of the mystery was hidden in this eternal God. If God is eternal, then He didn’t need a creator and this plan of the mystery was hidden “for ages” in the limitless, eternal God. Which is why Paul says in the next verse, “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v. 11). Paul also says that God gave him grace to bring to light for everyone this mystery for a special kind of testimony: “so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (v. 10). Didn’t see that coming. Have you ever read that in the Bible? This means that our testimony provides evil angelic powers with a reminder that their authority has been decisively broken and that all things are subject to Christ.

Thus you have a triumphant testimony of the gospel’s power: No power of hell, no scheme of the devil, and no influence of a demon can hinder the advance of the gospel to Gentiles or their inclusion into the church. And that goes for everyone who would trust in Jesus Christ. The living, breathing Church of God testifies to even demonic powers that we have been unified by Christ and are in subject to Christ.

Boldness and Access With Confidence

Paul says of this Christ, “in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him” (v. 12). Paul says that through Christ we have these things.You know, it’s strange that Paul was not frequently discouraged with the failures of his churches. He did criticize the sexual immorality of the church in Corinth, he did exhort the believers in Galatia to stop getting away from the true gospel, but he was convinced that things would work out. So Paul was eager for his readers to share his confidence rather than be discouraged—and once again the gospel is what sustains that: Paul says that in Christ he has “boldness and access with confidence,” through his faith in him.

We have something that the rest of the world doesn’t: access to God. Not only that, we have access to God with confidence. However, “boldness and access with confidence” (v. 12) does not mean that:

1) We have freedom to do whatever we want boldly before God. He sees anyway so I will do sin all the more.

2) We should feel superior to others because we have access to God; Boldness and humility go hand in hand.

3) It also doesn’t mean that we should be passive. It doesn’t mean that confidence in God should result in not taking action.

We know that life is difficult, we have suffering, evil and death all around us. Often times we can make a mistake and deny that these suffering are really impacting us. Listen to me, denial of the struggles in your life is not the solution. Paul knew the difficulties and was still confident. He looked his struggles straight in the eye but said, “I have access with confidence to God.” When we are aware of the fact that we do not go through hardships alone, when we are aware of the fact that we have a Savior who was “in every respect . . tempted as we are” (Heb. 4:15), then we have a great comfort. We as believers even have confidence over death as part of belonging to God.

Conclusion

So Paul concludes by asking his readers, “not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you.” Why? “it is their glory.” Paul’s suffering was worth it because he knew that he wasn’t really losing anything—but gaining that which is of immeasurable worth: God.

May God develop within all of us an attitude like Paul’s here.