Thursday, January 17, 2019

PT-1 "The Prisoner of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:1-4)


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/17/2019 9:33 AM



My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “The Prisoner of the Mystery”



Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 3:1-4



            Message of the verses:  1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles- 2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; 3 that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. 4 By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,”



            As I was going over Psalm 89 earlier this morning to repost it onto my other blog I came across something that made me think of verse three of this 3rd chapter of Ephesians, and that was the word mystery.  The Psalmist was probably writing about what happened after the Babylonians destroyed the Southern Kingdom and he was stating that God was faithful, but was concerned about what was going to happen to the Davidic line of kings which God promised would go on forever.  In the New Testament this “mystery” is solved as we learn that Jesus Christ, the son of David would be King forever.  To me this was a good demonstration of understanding this word “mystery” which we will probably talk more about once we get to verse three.



            We mentioned that Paul was probably beginning his prayer for the Ephesians and all others who would read this wonderful letter, but stopped himself at the end of verse one to talk more about this mystery of unity.  Verse four begins with the same words as verse one “for this reason,” which is where Paul will pick up on his prayer again in verse 14.



            The following are some of the things that John MacArthur says Paul had discussed in chapter two that Paul will once again go over in his prayer beginning in verse 14:  “including the truths that the person of Christ becomes new (v. 15); that all believers are in one body (v. 16); that the Gentiles, who were once far away, now become near when they believe (v. 17); that all believers are equally citizens of God’s kingdom and members of His family (v. 19); and that all believers are being built into God’s temple and dwelling (vv. 21-22).”



            The things that we will be going over in the first 13 verses of Chapter are what prompt Paul to pray the way that he will pray beginning in verse 14.  I think that I in many of Paul’s letters he will pray for who he is writing to and then at the end of the letter he will ask prayer for himself on the things he wants them to pray about for him. 



            One of the things that I have heard about John MacArthur’s preaching is that he goes over things many times.  This does not bother me at all for I have always been a slow learner and have the need of repetition, and I suppose that since Paul does this in his writings and the fact that Paul seems to be the favorite writer in the NT for John MacArthur that is why he does the same thing.  For fast learners this can be a problem, but for slow learners like me it is a blessing.



            The things that Paul is teaching in this letter are new and non-traditional doctrine, and I suppose that this is the reason he goes over it again and again.  God’s truths are deep and when we first begin to learn about them it is better to go over them again and again until we have a good grasp on them.  I have studied different Scripture verses for a long time and then later when I look at them again the Holy Spirit will show me something that I had never seen before.  If it were not for the Spirit of God who lives in me then I would probably be like those who John is speaking about in John 6:60 “Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this said, "This is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?"  Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:16 “as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.”  Peter is actually speaking of Paul’s letters in this verse.  “And remember, the Lord’s patience gives people time to be saved. This is what our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom God gave him- (2 Peter 2:15 NLT).” 



            I will quote again from John MacArthur’s commentary as I end this Spiritual Diary:  “The first truth Paul mentions is about his own situation and God-given ministry.  Outside of the Lord Jesus Himself, Paul is by far the dominant figure in the New Testament.  He wrote at least thirteen of its 27 books.  He is also the dominant human instrument of the Spirit in the book of Acts.  And more than any other apostle he delineated the mysteries of the gospel, the truths hidden even in the most faithful believers of former ages but mad known to the church of Jesus Christ.” 



            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the repetition of teachings in the Word of God, for as I go over different truths the Spirit of God will help me to learn new truths from His Word. 



My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to know some of the hidden truths from Romans 12:3, and as I realize these truths found there I will stand on them even when my emotions tell me something different.  Dr. Warren Wiersbe writes ““The Lord always has the last word, and it will not be ‘darkness.’  We should never doubt in the darkness what God has taught us in the light.”



Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Felix” (Acts 24:25).



Today’s Bible question:  “In what country did Elymas the sorcerer try to stop Paul’s work?”



Answer in our next SD.



1/17/2019 10:13 AM





           

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