Well good morning to each and every one of you. Now before we dive into God’s Word this morning, let us pray and ask God for help.

“Father in heaven, we ask for Your help once again as we look at the Scriptures. We know O Lord that unless You send Your Spirit down to work in our hearts, we will never be able to understand the spiritual meaning of these words, of this truth. I ask O Lord that You would indeed make the best use of this time that we have. And help us O Lord to learn and to apply the lessons in our lives, all this we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

We’re looking at Ephesians chapter 3 this morning. Ephesians chapter 3, there are twenty-one verses in this chapter but we are only looking at the first half of Ephesians chapter 3 and that is the verses read by Elder Kian Ming just now- the first thirteen verses of this chapter. Let me remind you once again that the book of Ephesians can be split into two. There is the doctrinal part of Ephesians that is chapters 1, 2, and 3. Then, there’s the applicational part of Ephesians, this is chapters 4, 5, and 6. Now we have spent a very long time in the first half of this part of Ephesians. But we are coming to the end of it very soon of this doctrinal series and we’ll be entering into the applicational chapters soon enough.

Now just to recap once again what we have gone through so far. In chapter 1 we see how Paul lays out an entire list of spiritual blessings which every Christian will receive when he becomes a Christian. And if you are a Christian, you will receive every spiritual blessing there is now like adoption, acceptance. You’ll receive forgiveness of sins, redemption, and the list goes on in chapter 1. Now if you are not a Christian, you’ll receive none of these spiritual blessings. Now to contrast this with earthly blessings, earthly blessings is something which everyone receives regardless of whether you are a Christian or not, but we receive different measures of earthly blessings. But for spiritual blessings, as long as you are a Christian, now you’ll receive the full list of spiritual blessings.

Now towards the end of chapter 1, Paul goes into a prayer mode. He is very much a person of prayer. And he prays for the Ephesian church that they may be given the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that they may be able to understand biblical truths so that they may be able to understand God and what He has done in Christ. After that in chapter 2, we saw the two great contrasts- the two great contrasts of a person before and after he becomes a Christian. We see in the first half of chapter 2 of Ephesians. Before you were a Christian, you were dead. But after you were made alive.

The second half of chapter 2, we see that before you were separated. You were separated from God, from His people. But after you became a Christian, you were reunited. You were reunited to God to be part of His family, to be part of His kingdom. And the main point that Paul was trying to impress upon us in chapter 2 is that who was the cause of this great change? Who was the cause of us becoming from dead to alive, from being separated to now united? Well, the cause we know is God. God is the first cause and He is the cause of this great change, not ourselves. Not by our works, not by nature. But against all odds, God caused this great change in our lives in Christ.

How is Paul doing? What are the conditions that he is in? How is he doing in light of all the persecutions? But Paul is not worried himself. He knows that he is facing persecution. No doubt he has his own sets of trials and sufferings, but he urges the Ephesian church not to worry. He says here: “do not lose heart”. Yes, I’m suffering and there’s so many difficult times that lie ahead. But do not lose heart, he says. And the reason why Paul asked the Ephesian church not to lose heart over his suffering is because of the mystery- because of the mystery, and we see that in the first twelve verses.

Now you see the word ‘mystery’ appear three times in the text. In twelve verses, the word ‘mystery’ appears three times, and that will be the main theme of this portion of Scripture. And so this morning we will consider what this mystery is which Paul is talking about. We will consider this mystery in three points. Number one, the mystery. Number two, the revealed mystery. And number three, the wonderful mystery. The mystery, the revealed mystery, and the wonderful mystery. Firstly, the mystery. What is this mystery? We turn your attention at once to what Paul is saying in the text. We see in verse 3: “how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already”. And in verse 4: “by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)”.

And then 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”. Well obviously Paul is trying to say something about the word ‘mystery’, but what is a mystery? If we were to use the standard English definition, a mystery you would say is something difficult or impossible to know. Or you might say a mystery is something unknowable or not revealed, something incomprehensible to the human mind.

When I was looking at the word ‘mystery’, the first thing that came to my head was those bedtime stories about the Loch Ness Monster. Well, I’m sure you’ve heard of the Loch Ness Monster in Scotland. You heard about it, you’ve probably seen pictures about it. You’re not sure whether it’s real. You don’t know whether is it a dinosaur or a whale or some kind of fish. No one has actually seen it, but there were so many rumours about it. But truly that is a mystery to all of us. We do not truly know what is the Loch Ness Monster.

Or for example, you have a cat, and every evening you let the cat out because every evening the cat has to go out to the garden or outside to play around, to exercise, to do his own business. And after that, the cat will return to your house. But one day, the cat goes out in the evening and the cat doesn’t return. And day after day, the cat still hasn’t appeared. And after a while, you have given up all hope of the cat returning. And if I were to ask you what happened to your pet cat, you would say: I do not know. Maybe someone had kidnapped it. Maybe another cat fought with it and now it’s dead, or I don’t know somebody shot it or something. But that is truly another mystery of what happened to the missing cat alright. Those are mysteries.

But when we read Ephesians 3, Paul has a different intention of what he means here or how he uses the word ‘mystery’. The emphasis is not so much on what is unknown but rather what is known. He says in verse 3: “it was made known to me”. In verse 4: “that you may understand”. So this mystery can be known. It can be understood. In verse 5, now it has been revealed. This mystery has been revealed. And verse 9: “to make all see”. “To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery”. It is something that all can see.

And so as you can see from these verses, Paul is referring to the word ‘mystery’ as something that has been revealed, something that can be known or understood by the hearers or readers, and we too now want to know and understand what this mystery is that has been revealed. Let’s read again verse 5 and verse 6. Verse 5: “In which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel”.

“That the Gentiles”, Gentiles here refers to someone who is not a Jew, and that includes all of us here. We are not Jews. “Should be fellow heirs”, that is to be part of the family, to be sons of God and brothers in Christ. “Of the same body” is to be of one church. Now Jew and Gentile can be as one church, “and partakers of his promise in Christ through the gospel”. We are being invited to be part of the kingdom of God through the message of the gospel. Now, this is the glorious mystery- the glorious mystery of Christ which Paul is talking about which has been revealed to us, that we are invited through the gospel of Jesus Christ to be part of His kingdom, to be His children, to be part of the church, to be part of His family.

The Old Testament Christians, they could not see this fully because it was only dimly revealed. Now it wasn’t clear to them that the Gentiles can also be part of the kingdom of God. They did not know that the ceremonial laws would be abolished. Now they didn’t know that (you saw that in chapter 2 that) the middle wall of separation would have been taken down. The Jews, they thought that they were a special people. And in fact, some of them still think that they are special people. Some people think that Jerusalem is a special place and they will go there probably once a year to do their pilgrimage. But all these ceremonial laws in the Old Testament- the ordinances, the sacrifices, they were all pointing to the coming Messiah. They were just a shadow of things to come. 

And when Christ finally arrived, the prophecy was fulfilled. Our sins was paid for, and He abolished all the ceremonial laws in the Old Testament. And so essentially, the mystery of Christ which Paul is talking about here is the gospel. There is only one way of salvation and that is through Christ alone, not through works, not through birth, not by being born in a certain race or certain nation. The only way of salvation is through Christ. The Jews need the gospel as much as the Gentiles. There is no such thing as a second class of first-class Christian. Man is all the same. We have all fallen short. We are all in danger of the coming judgement. We all need Christ to atone for our sins. Jews and Gentiles alike can be saved if they repent from their sins and put their faith in Christ alone.

Have you this morning heard the gospel of Jesus Christ? Do you know what are the implications if you do not respond to it? Have you responded to the gospel call? Have you believed in Him for salvation? Have you repented from your sins? Now, this is the wonderful mystery which has been revealed to us at this present time. The gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news of who He is and what He has done for us, and He invites us through the gospel to be part of this kingdom through faith and repentance. Now we know that the mystery which Paul is talking about here is the mystery of Christ which is also the gospel of Christ.

Secondly, now we want to consider the revealed mystery of Christ. And here in this second point, we want to see how was it revealed. We know that the mystery of Christ is the gospel of Christ, but how was it revealed? If we read Ephesians carefully again, we would notice that Paul has already given us the answer. Firstly, Paul was appointed by Christ. Look at verse 1: “For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ (or prisoner of Christ Jesus) for you Gentiles”. Now probably you might pause and ask a question: Wait, what is Paul talking about? Wasn’t he put in prison by the Romans? Why does he say that he is a prisoner of Christ?

Now, of course, Paul knew very well that although the Romans was the one who put him in prison, but ultimately God is in control. God is sovereign over all things. If he was in prison, it was because God who allowed it. God is in control, whether good things or bad things happen to us. He is sovereign over all things. Yes, even over our trials and sufferings. And are you yourself going through hardships at this moment? Probably you have recently gone through some hard times and are still recovering from it, could be a job problem or a relationship problem or a loss of loved ones.

But no matter what hardships and trials you are going through, do you know that it was appointed by God? Do you know that God is still sovereign over all these things? If you’re going through hardships but God is not control of all these things, then you have reason to fear. But if you are going through sufferings and hard times and trials, but as long as God is in control, that is the comfort that we have. Paul knew that he was not in prison by chance. It was God in His eternal decree who ordained that he should be in prison and which is why Paul says that he is a prisoner of Christ Jesus. He was appointed by Christ to be there at that time, and it was not by chance.

And secondly, not only did God appoint Paul to be in prison at that time, but it was also appointed that Paul was to be given a message to be preached to the Jews and the Gentiles. See in verse 2: “if indeed you have heard the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you”. And in verse 8: “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ”. So Paul was the appointed preacher to preach the mystery of Christ, and that is the gospel of Christ to all the world. And although Paul was given a glorious message to preach to all the world, Jews and Gentiles alike, you could see that he was still very humble.

You see in verse 8 he says: “to me who am less than least of all the saints”. Less than least of all the saints. If there was one Bible verse which you would like to dispute, probably this would be the one. Any one of us here could have replaced him as someone who is less than least of all the saints. But why is Paul so humble? It’s because he has received the grace from God. If you imagine a boat floating on the water and you take a bar of gold and you put it on the boat, the boat will probably still float quite nicely. If you continue adding gold bars onto the boat, slowly you’ll see the boat sinking deeper and deeper into the water.

And that is how Paul is like. Paul is like the boat. The more grace he received from God, the more he understood the Scriptures, the more he understood the gospel of Christ, the more humble he became. The more humble he became. It is the ones who are shallow in the doctrines of God, the ones who do not understand, who do not see the deep truths of Scripture, these are the arrogant ones. But a true Christian who truly understands his own condition, who truly understands what God has done to him, for him, these people would be more and more humble as they learn the Word of God. Paul saw this as a humbling thing, but he also saw it as a great privilege to be appointed to preach this mystery.

And in verse 8 here, he says: “the riches of Christ”. He did not say that it was boring work. He did not say it was too difficult. He did not complain, but he said that this was a grace given to him. He saw it as a privilege to preach the mystery of Christ. And anyone who is sent by God to preach His Word should find it a privilege to preach it because it is a gospel that gives hope to sinners. It is a gospel that preaches love and mercy. It is a gospel that invites you to be part of the family. Today there are no more apostles in our current age, so there can be no new mystery. There can be no further additions to the gospel or second gospel.

If anyone appears to you and says that he has new revelation from God, you ask him to sit down and read his Bible. Today we have with us the complete revelation of God. These are the teachings of the Apostles who were inspired by the Holy Spirit and we continue to preach the mystery of Christ as written in the Scriptures. This is the task of ministers now who stand in this pulpit. They are to preach the mystery of Christ, the gospel of Christ. The task of the minister is not to give some entertaining speech or host a talent program. The task of a minister is not to preach about current events or what is happening to China or what is happening to Joe Biden in America. The task of a minister is not even to preach morality or ethics.

The task of the minister is to preach Christ and Christ alone, to carry the message revealed by God, appointed by God to His appointed apostles, and to continue preaching the mystery of Christ. And this was how the mystery, the gospel was revealed. God reveals it to His appointed Apostles. They preached it to the world, and the ministers today continue preaching the Word as recorded in the Bible. And by God’s grace, may the Spirit open our hearts to understand the wonderful truth as recorded here in Scripture. Firstly we know that the mystery here in chapter 3 is about the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know that it is revealed through the Apostles and now through Scripture, and ministers now preach this wonderful mystery on the pulpit.

And we come to the best part, point number three- the wonderful mystery. We turn our attention to the wonderful mystery of Christ. Firstly, why is the mystery of Christ so wonderful? Why is it so wonderful? Read again verse 10. Verse 10 to verse 12: “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.”. Why is the gospel of Christ so wonderful? Because it displays the manifold wisdom of God.

The Olympics was supposed to be held last year in Tokyo, Japan, but for obvious reasons, it has been postponed just like everything else. This grand event is usually the highlight for men. The entire world would join in this international exhibition, and the host (the country which is hosting this grand event) would normally build state-of-the-art stadiums and many beautiful and wonderful buildings for people to come, for tourists to come. But also at this grand event, we see the finest athletes coming to compete, to show their strength and their skills, to show who is best in the world. And of course, you will remember normally at the end of the event there will be a spectacular display of fireworks. But why do we have this gathering of nations?

Well, I would say that this is to show the manifold wisdom of men, to see what man has achieved and what man can do to be able to show the state-of-the-art buildings and to display the skills of the finest sportsmen on Earth. Truly indeed this is to show the glory of man and the manifold wisdom of man. But here in this text, we have something greater. We have something that displays the manifold wisdom of God. The mystery of Christ is so wonderful because, through the church, it displays the manifold wisdom of God even to angels. Even to angels, thousands upon ten thousands of angels and principalities and powers and whatever their rank is. They all gather in amazement to gaze upon this amazing wisdom of God. And not just the wisdom of God, but the manifold wisdom of God.

In case you have forgotten, the angels were created much earlier than us. If you invited the angels to come and see the Olympics, they probably say what a boring thing this is. The angels must have saw how God created the stars in the Universe, but I do not see in Scripture that they saw the manifold wisdom of God there. And God created the Earth and all its beautiful plants and animals. We do not read in Genesis that they saw the manifold wisdom of God. Even when God created His finest creation, man, created in the image of God, I still did not read in Scripture that the angels saw the manifold wisdom of God. The angels saw the manifold wisdom of God when they saw what the mystery of Christ was.

I’m sure when man fell (God’s finest creation fell), the angels could not believe their eyes. They could not imagine how something created in God’s image could fall so badly. The angels had no idea how man could be redeemed. They saw what God had done previously with Satan when he fell. God cast him away. They knew how God was just, how God was holy and He would not tolerate sin. If all the angels would sit together in the parliamentary sitting and to discuss how man could be saved while God be just at the same time and yet at the same time judge the ungodly, now they would have never thought of an idea of how man could be redeemed.

They would have never come out with a plan. The angels were totally amazed when they saw God’s eternal plan of redemption unfold before their eyes. When man sinned, he lost his right to be in the Garden of Eden. He lost his purity. He lost communion with God and he faced death. But in Christ, he regained something better. He received perfect righteousness. He received eternal life. He receives sonship. He can now come to God with boldness and confidence. This is the manifold wisdom of God being displayed by the church- by the church.

And even now the angels are still studying how could someone hate God so much and yet now love Him wholeheartedly. How could someone who was once so dead in sin be so alive right now? How could someone who once had a heart of stone now have a heart of flesh? How could someone sing praises to God despite going through all the sufferings and trials and hardships of life? When angels gazed at the church, they saw something they have never seen before. They saw the mystery of Christ being so wonderful that Paul even describes it not just the wisdom of God but the manifold wisdom of God.

Now I hope this gives you an idea of how wonderful the church is. Never despise any part of the church or any member of it, no matter how weak that brother may be. As long as they are part of the church, they are part of God’s plan. They are part of something that displays the manifold wisdom of God. It is so sad that nowadays Christians do not see the importance or the privilege of being part of a church. They do not see the importance of growing in the church or participating in church activities. They do not want to serve the church wholeheartedly. They do not consider giving to the church. It is such a pity to not be part of the church.

For some people, the church is just a footnote, just a small part of their lives and they only join at their own convenience. Are you such a Christian? Is church just a sideshow while you go on about your own life, seeking your own enjoyment, being busy going about your own vocations? Is education the main focus of your life? Are you only focused in your relationships? Are you focused on making money all the time? Is job your main priority in life? If God is not your main priority in life, if you do not have time for church, are you even a Christian at all? I urge you to repent and change and consider these Scriptures urgently. I urge you to turn back to serve your Master while you still have life. Well, there still is time and while you are still able.

Well before I close, I just want to recap once again what we have just seen in chapter 3. We have seen what a wonderful mystery we have in our hands. This is a mystery that is revealed. It is called the mystery of Christ because it was revealed by Him and it is about Christ and what He has done to save us from our sins. Secondly, the mystery which is essentially the gospel of Christ was revealed by God to His appointed Apostles, and their teachings are now recorded in Scripture. And it is our duty as a church to continue to spread this truth to all the nations. And thirdly, what a great privilege it is to be part of the church, to serve our Master, and to give our best to Him, to be part of something that displays the manifold wisdom of God.

Do not lose heart when you see someone suffering like Paul. They know why they are there. They know that it was appointed by God that they should suffer such and such a thing and at such and such a time. They know that their sufferings are not in vain. They know that their reward is waiting for them in heaven. When is it your turn to be part of the church and suffer for the gospel’s sake? Let us close in prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You for showing us through Your Word how wonderful Your gospel is. We thank You that You have appointed apostles to proclaim Your truth, and we thank You O Lord for Your Word that records all Your teachings. We thank You for Your Word which is sufficient to teach us, to instruct us, to rebuke us, to cause us to turn from our ways. We ask O Lord that as we read Your Word we would be encouraged by Your truth.

We pray for those among us who are still outside Your kingdom that as they hear about the gospel of Christ, Your Spirit will touch their hearts and cause them to see what a terrible sinner they are. And we pray O Lord that You would change them from within, that You will regenerate their hearts and cause them to come to You in faith and repentance. We ask O Lord that You’ll continue to watch over us as a church as we continue to display Your manifold wisdom. We pray that we will be a church that is prayerful, a church that walks fervently in faith, a church that is willing to suffer and to die for You. We ask Lord that You’ll grant us these convictions in our hearts, for all these, we pray in Jesus’ name Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.