Sunday, January 20, 2019

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


SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/20/2019 10:36 AM



My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-4 “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,”



            We have been talking about the stewardship that God gave to Paul in order from him to “by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.”  God gave the “job” to Paul to speak about this mystery that both Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ once they are both saved.  Paul goes on to say that he had written to them briefly about this and this can be seen in 1:9-12 and 2:11-12.  This truth was a mystery unknowable by men until God revealed through the apostle Paul.  I realize that Peter actually was the first one to give out the gospel to Cornelius found in the 10th chapter of Acts, but in Paul’s missionary journeys he led many people to the Lord who were Gentiles and because of this he spread the truth to those he led to the Lord that Jews and Gentiles were one in Christ.    Paul goes on to say in verse four “By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,”  John MacArthur writes “Paul was instrumental in revealing many mysteries to the church, but the particular mystery in view here is the one he has already mentioned in general and is about to state specifically—namely, that in Christ, Jew and Gentile become one in God’s sight and in His kingdom and family.”



            Paul not only would write about this mystery, but he would explain it so that all believers would understand it.  He gives “insight” to this mystery as seen in verse four:  Sunesis (insight) “literally means to bring together and metaphorically refers to comprehension and understanding, mentally bringing knowledge together in order to grasp its full meaning and significance.  Spiritual insight must always precede practical application, because what is not properly understood cannot be properly applied.”



            MacArthur goes on to say that the opposite of spiritual insight is “foolishness” (asunetos Romans 1:21):” “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.”  We can see from this verse in Romans that these men Paul writes about lacked discernment even though they knew God.  Knowing about God and knowing God are two different things!



            One of the things that I am trying to work on this year is to realize truth making it better for me not to get emotional, but stand on God’s truths.  John MacArthur writes “Paul did not get his zeal for the gospel and his passion for souls from high emotional experiences, though he may have had many of them.  His love, passion, and energetic zeal to win the last and to build up the saved came from his great ‘insight’ into the gospel.  The more he comprehended God’s fathomless love and grace, the more he was compelled to share and exemplify that love and that grace, the more he was compelled to share and exemplify that love and that grace.”



            If you take a look at the 2 Corinthians chapter twelve you will see a chapter full of things that Paul went through in order to fulfill his stewardship by compromising his health, wealth and many other things for the sake of the gospel.  Yes Paul was passionate, but his passion was based on the truth that he got from God and taught to even us as we read his writings.



The Answer to the very last Bible question is Ester 8:9, which is the longest verse in the Bible.



Today’s first Bible quote comes from St. John Chrysostom and once I give the quote try and figure out what verse goes with it.  “The Holy Scriptures were not given to us that we should enclose them in books, but that we should engrave them upon our hearts.”



I will give you the verse in our next SD.



1/20/2019 11:12 AM               



           

No comments:

Post a Comment