The Mystery Made Known

In one paragraph

The pastor opened Ephesians 3 by sharing the story of the 2010 Cape Town Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization, where 5,000 Christians from around the world gathered to study Ephesians together. The sermon read through the whole chapter slowly and deliberately, with the main teaching saved for next week, letting the text speak first. The heart of the message was that God's plan for the church...

Read together

1. Ephesians 3:1 Paul introduces himself as a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of the Gentiles
2. Ephesians 3:2 Paul assumes the Ephesians have heard of the stewardship of God's grace given to him
3. Ephesians 3:3 the mystery was made known to Paul by revelation on the road to Damascus
4. Ephesians 3:4-5 the mystery of Christ not made known in other generations but now revealed to apostles and prophets by the Spirit
5. Ephesians 3:6 the mystery is that Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus
6. Ephesians 3:7 Paul made a minister of the gospel according to the gift of God's grace given by the working of His power
7. Ephesians 3:8 Paul calls himself the very least of all the saints, given grace to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ to the Gentiles
8. Ephesians 3:9-10 the plan of the mystery hidden in God so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to rulers and authorities in heavenly places
9. Ephesians 3:11 the eternal purpose realized in the finished work of Christ Jesus
10. Ephesians 3:12 believers have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Christ
11. Ephesians 3:13 Paul asks the Ephesians not to lose heart over his sufferings for them
12. Ephesians 3:14-19 Paul's prayer that believers be strengthened through the Spirit, rooted and grounded in love, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge and be filled with the fullness of God
13. Ephesians 3:20-21 benediction declaring God able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus forever
14. Ephesians 4:17 noted as the start of a large passage Callisto Odede preached at Cape Town
15. Ephesians 6:9 noted as the end of the large passage Callisto Odede preached at Cape Town
16. Ephesians 1:1-2 compared in structure to the opening of Ephesians 3:1
17. Ephesians 2 reconciliation, tearing down the dividing wall of hostility, bringing the church together in unity

Talk about it

1. Pastor Chris described the Lausanne Congress as a place where 5,000 Christians from every background gathered around Ephesians and felt real tension in the room. Have you ever experienced that kind of tension when Christians from different traditions or backgrounds tried to study or worship together? What was that like?
2. Paul calls himself 'the very least of all the saints' because he knew he had persecuted and killed Christians before his encounter with Jesus. How does that kind of self-awareness shape the way a person carries the gospel, and what does it look like in your own life?
3. The sermon described the mystery of Ephesians three as the Gentiles being 'fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.' What does it do to your sense of belonging in the Church when you sit with the weight of that?
4. John Piper, as described in the sermon, pleaded with that gathering to hold two truths together: that the gospel impels us toward alleviating unjust suffering in this age, and that it impels us to warn people about eternal suffering. Where do you find yourself pulling toward one side or the other, and why?
5. Paul's prayer in Ephesians three asks that we would 'know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge.' What would it look like practically, this week, to pray that prayer for yourself and for the people sitting around you in this church?