SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2019
10:36 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Preaching of the Mystery”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
3:7-9
Message of the verses: “7 of which I was
made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according
to the working of His power. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace
was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light what is the
administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created
all things;”
Paul
is stating here that it was God who called him to give out the gospel to the
Gentiles, and in the tenth chapter of the book of Romans, in which Paul will
quote from Isaiah 52:7 he wrote the following “14 How then will they call on
Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have
not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they
are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF
THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!" 16 However, they did not all
heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’” We see here that not all who hear the gospel
will respond to it in order to become a true believer in Jesus Christ, but at
least they heard the gospel, for if they had not heard it then there would have
been no chance for them to respond to it.
Now you may be asking the question “What about the heathens who have
never heard of Jesus Christ?” Psalm 19
gives us some answers to that age old question, for people in places who have
never heard of Jesus Christ are without excuse for they can look at the stars
and the sun and moon in the skies and know that these had to be created, and
thus began to seek out who this One was who did all of this. I have heard that if a person is seeking
light, that is the light of who God really is then God will give them more
light. I have mentioned a story from a
book entitled “The God who Hung on the Cross,” and in one of the many stories
found in this book there was a woman in Cambodia who only heard that there was
a God who hung on the cross. The communists
came to her village to kill on the people from her village. They made them dig their own graves and then
stand around them waiting to be killed.
This woman who only heard of the God who hung on the cross cried out to
Him, not really knowing if He was real or not.
As the time past by and people began to open their eyes the enemies were
nowhere to be found. A few years past
when some missionaries came to their village and this brave woman asked the missionaries
“What took you so long.” She only had a
little light but the Lord honored it and sent people there to tell her the
truth of the gospel and so she became a believer.
Paul
tells the Ephesians that he was “a minister, according to the gift of God’s
grace” and this is not only true of Paul, but true of all who believe in Jesus
Christ as all people can tell others what it means to become a believer in
Jesus Christ because of how He had changed their life.
John
MacArthur writes “Minister’ is from diakonos,
the basis meaning of which is servant in particular a servant who waits on
tables. It later came to refer to
servants in general. By definition, a
servant is one who acts on the commands of others, who recognizes and submits to
a higher power. His primary
responsibility is to do what he is told to do.
Paul’s single responsibility was to faithfully be a servant, ‘according
to the gift of God’s grace which was given to [him] according to the working of
His power.” Let us look at 1 Corinthians
3:5 to help us better understand this term “What then is Apollos? And what is
Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity
to each one (1 Cor. 3:5).” As we look at
this we can understand that it is the Lord who is the power behind the
servant. Paul writes the following to
the Colossians “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power,
which mightily works within me (Col. 1:29).”
To
make this clear Paul emphasizes the fact that it was not him who made himself a
minister but writes that he “was made a minister.” I suppose that you have to remember Paul’s
history before the Lord called him on the road to Damascus as seen in the ninth
chapter of the book of Acts. Paul was
seeking out believers to kill them when God reached down to save him. “10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus
named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And
he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him,
"Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of
Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen
in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he
might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about
this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has
authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him,
"Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the
Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he
must suffer for My name’s sake’ (Acts 9:10-16).” This story shows us that God had chosen Paul
to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and that is why Paul states that he “was
made a minister” as it had nothing to do with him, for surely he was not
seeking to do this, but was chosen to do this ministering to the Gentiles.
Spiritual meaning for my life: I have to say that I was not out trying to
destroy any Christians when God called me 45 years ago this coming Saturday,
but I was certainly gone in the wrong direction. God has given me a love for His Word and a
desire to tell others about the God who saved me, and that is one of the
biggest reasons that I write these blogs.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so
that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: To continue to learn about being humble, and
to stand on the truth and not on my emotions.
Today’s Quote: “Glory not in wealth if you have it, nor in
friends because they are powerful, but in God who gives all things, and above
all desires to give you Himself.” (Thomas
A. Kempis)
Scripture that goes along with this
quote in our next SD.
1/24/2019 11:28 AM
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