Paul is talking in Chapter three of Ephesians to a large degree about his own personal ministry. He says in verse 7 and 8a, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given. The first thing that you see here is the means of this ministry that Paul had been called to. The means is grace. It wasn’t because of his spirituality, his virtue or his great ability. He was in the ministry because of God’s grace… and what is grace? If you have been around Calvary Chapel for any length of time you know this… grace is unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor. The second thing that you see is the message of this ministry. The message of Paul’s ministry is found in the second part of verse 8, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. The message was, and is, and always will be Jesus Christ! To talk about and teach on Him! Paul’s message wasn’t philosophy, programs or theology… it was a person! He was focused on and constantly talking about the person of Jesus Christ. The third and last thing you see here is the method of Paul’s ministry. The method of his ministry is found in verse 9, …and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ. Paul says the method is to make all men see the mystery. What mystery? The Greek word musteron means something which was hid previously that is now made known openly. Paul wants everybody to see the mystery… and that mystery is Christ in me. So he says, this is my ministry; the means? God’s grace. The message? Jesus Christ. The method? Is to let men see that Christ is in me. That’s why he says in verse 13, Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Paul says, don’t lose heart and be bummed at my troubles because, it’s for you! When people see me in prison or going through hardship they’re going to see it, not just hear it theologically or think it intellectually. Rather they will see the reality that Christ is in Paul! They will see it tangibly… they will see it worked out practically because of what Paul has gone through. And it now becomes evident that Christ can be in you! The hope of glory. This is in essence the key component of being effective in ministry. AW Tozer, a powerful preacher from a generation ago was correct when he said, “before God can use a man greatly he must allow that man to be hurt deeply [lit. be crushed]!” Why? Because the old adage is true, people don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care… and what makes us care in our service to others? Read through ll Corinthians 1:3-6 as Paul there tells us what makes us care. The difficulties that come our way are matched only by the consolation that we have in Christ. To the exact degree of the crushing/difficulty that you find yourself in at any time in your life, to that exact degree of the intensity of the suffering will be the reality of the consolation! Cory Ten Boom put it this way when she said; “you’ll never know that Christ is all you need… until Christ is all you have.” ll Corinthians 1 tells us that as the sufferings of Christ abound, so also does the consolation or comfort. The there-ness of the Lord! And this consolation comes for what purpose? Verse 3 and 4 says it’s not just to make us comfortable… but that we might Comfort others with the comfort that we ourselves have found in Him. In other words, Paul says that what I’m going through is for you! That through his suffering you might discover God’s consolation and share it with others when you go through your own tribulations and challenges. That’s why Paul in talking about his own ministry tells us to not faint or lose heart! Because his tribulation is for us! People have heard enough sermons and have been witnessed to by enough sincere Christians… they’ve heard it and may even know it. But what they really want is to see the mystery of Christ in YOU! Cre8ted2serve Pastor Joe
Posted on: Sat, 13 Sep 2014 00:09:37 +0000
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