PT-1 "The Plan of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:5-6)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/21/2019 9:37 AM

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

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:5-6

            Message of the verses:  “5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,”

            We can see from verse five that Paul defines what the general meaning of the mystery is as it is used in the New Testament.  Then in verse six Paul identifies the particular mystery he is explaining to the Ephesians and those who will read this letter.

            John MacArthur uses a word that I was not familiar with, “antecedent” and as I looked us some synonyms for this word I found among others “forerunner,” and “ancestor.”  He writes “The antecedent of ‘which’ is ‘the mystery of Christ,’ about which the apostle had been given special revelation and insight (vv. 3-4).  ‘In other generations’ this mystery ‘was not made known to the sons of men.  Sons of men’ refers to mankind in general, not just to God’s chosen people, Israel.”  So we can say that before the church age no one knew anything, but perhaps glimpse of the truth that Paul is writing about here.  We have to remember that for a time of perhaps years, that Paul was along in Arabia with the Spirit of the Lord who taught him many things which we could conclude as mysteries.  15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus (Gal. 1:15-17).”    Now as one looks at some Old Testament revelation that came from the prophets, we as believers now can only understand the meaning of it in light of what is taught in the New Testament.  “39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect (Hebrews 11:39-40).”  “10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12).”

            One of the verses found in the Old Testament which I have to say is one of my favorites is found in Genesis 12:1-3 “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”   As I focus in on the highlighted portion of verse three it would be fair to say that we would not really understand how God was going to bless the Gentiles if it were not for the fact that Jesus came to earth to die for the sins of all who would accept Him, and then begin the church age as seen in the book of Acts along with other NT books.  Paul reveals this mystery in Ephesians and other letters that he wrote. 

            There are other OT writings such as Isaiah 49:6 which says “I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth,” and this could not be fully explained until it was explained by Paul to mean the offering of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) to the Gentiles as well as the Jews which is seen in Acts 13:46-47 “46  Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47  "For so the Lord has commanded us, ’I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’"”

            I have spoken to some miss-guided people who claim that the church began in the Garden of Eden, and the reason that they say this has to do with anti-Semitism, for they go on to say that all of the promises that God gave to the Jews were forfeited because “The Jews blew it” and so those promises were give to the church.  Well the only ones who blew it are the ones who believe this heresy.  God never changes and so when He gave the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then to David they were what is called an unconditional covenant, and because one of God’s attributes is being Immutable, meaning that He can never change, those promises are still in effect and will be fulfilled in God’s timing.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that God never changes because if He did, for one thing He would cease to be God, and for another thing He might change His mind about my salvation. 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to bring humility to me as Paul described in Romans 12:3, and to continue to rely on God’s truth and not my emotions.

The verse which went along with yesterday’s quote:  “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).”

1/21/2019 10:15 AM

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 10^th 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               

           

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

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2019 10:43 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-3 “The Prisoner of the Mystery”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 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 mentioned that there is a parenthesis which begins with the words found in verse two and goes all the way to verse thirteen, and this was to emphasize his divine authority for this teaching.  John MacArthur writes “The Greek first-class conditional clause indicates that the condition (‘if indeed you have heard…’) is assumed to be true.  Paul is therefore saying, ‘As I am sure you have already heard…’”

            What Paul is saying that they heard was “the stewardship of God’s grace which was given” to Paul on behalf of those he is writing too, the Gentiles.  MacArthur writes “oikonomia (stewardship) primarily referred to the management of a household, business, or other concern on behalf of someone else.  A steward was a responsible for taking care of that which belonged to someone else.  He supervised such things as buying, selling, bookkeeping, planting, harvesting, storing, the preparation of meals, the assignment of duties to slaves, and whatever else needed to be done.”  I want to quote verse two in from the KJV of the Bible to make a point:  “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.”  You see that the word “oikonomia” is translated as “dispensation” in the KJV of the Bible.  As I was listening to the sermon from John MacArthur on these verses he explained the use of this word and while preaching through the book of Ephesians he was using the KJV of the Bible as later on he would change to the NASB in his sermons.  If you have ever read the Schofield Study Bible you will see that he speaks of different dispensations throughout the Bible.  For instance the first dispensation, according to him would be the age of innocence which happened after God had created Adam and Eve, and before their fall.  What we see by using this word “oikonomia” and translating it as “stewardship” is that Adam and Eve had the stewardship of taking care of God’s creation of the earth.  Today in the church age we could say it is the dispensation of grace, and during the millennial kingdom the dispensation will be when Christ rules the earth from David’s throne in Jerusalem.    Paul did not ask for the ministry that he had as God gave it to him “12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13a even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”  15 But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:15-16).”  Gal. 2:9 “and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”  It was by God’s grace that Paul was given this stewardship of God’s grace.  In 1 Corinthians 9:16-17 we read that Paul articulates the sense of divine compulsion behind the ministry that God had given to him.  “16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”  The following is from the Phillips paraphrased version including verse 18 “16  For I take no special pride in the fact that I preach the gospel. I feel compelled to do so; I should be utterly miserable if I failed to preach it. 17 If I do this work because I choose to do so then I am entitled to a reward. But if it is no choice of mine, but a sacred responsibility put upon me, 18 what can I expect in the way of reward? This, that when I preach the gospel, I can make it absolutely free of charge, and need not claim what is my rightful due as a preacher.” 

            John MacArthur puts this truth that Paul is writing about into practical terms for all who are believers, and with this quote we will end this SD.

“Every believer is a steward of the calling, spiritual gifts, opportunities, skills, knowledge, and every other blessing he has from the Lord.  Everything we have belongs to the Lord, and we are therefore entrusted as stewards to manage our lives and everything we possess in behalf of the One to whom they belong.  We are faithful stewards when we use what we have to minister to those within the family of God and witness to those who are without.  ‘As each one has received a special gift,’ Peter admonishes us, ‘employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God’ (1 Peter 4:10).”

         I want to say one more thing and that is that the explanation of “Spiritual Gifts” are found in 1 Cor. 12; Romans 12; Ephesians 4; and 1 Peter 4, so that helps us understand why Peter wrote what he wrote in chapter four of 1 Peter.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ahab and Jezebel” (1 Kings 21:4-5).

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the longest verse in the Bible?”

Answer in our next SD.

I want to say that this question for today which is to be answered in tomorrow’s SD will be the last one.  We will then begin by giving a quote from a “famous” person and then on the next day give the verse or verses to help understand the quote, or perhaps where it comes from.  I think this will be something helpful for all of us.

1/19/2019 11:29 AM

PT-2 "The Prisoner of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:1-4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/18/2019 10:51 AM

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-2 “The Prisoner of the Mystery”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 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,”

            Since we have recently studied the book of Acts, which speaks in the last part of it about the Apostle Pau and much about times when he was in prison, I don’t think that we need to go over a blow by blow description of all these times he was in prison.  I wall say that the book of Acts ends with Paul in Rome in a rented house with guards guarding him.  When Paul was a prisoner of the Jews he did not think that he was their prisoner, nor when a prisoner of Rome for Paul says that he was “the prisoner of Christ Jesus.”  He said this because he knew that no matter where he went it was under the control of Jesus Christ. 

           

            John MacArthur writes what is to me a wonderful paragraph:  “Perspective is all-important.  How we view and react to circumstances is more important than the circumstances themselves.  If all we can see is our immediate situation, then our circumstances control us.  We feel good when our circumstances are good but miserable when they are not.  Had Paul been able to see only his circumstances, he would quickly have given up his ministry.  Had he thought that his life was ultimately in the hands of his persecutors, his jailers, his guards, or the Roman government, he would long since have given up in despair.”

            As we look at the life of Paul through different sections of the New Testament, we realize that after he became a believer that his life was turned completely around and the things that God said about how his life would go as far as much suffering for the cause of Christ came true he knew that Jesus Christ was in complete control of all the events that transpired in his life and trusted the Lord for the outcome without complaining.  Paul wrote and knew what Romans 8:28 was all about “Moreover we know that to those who love God, who are called according to his plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good (Philips).”  James writes that no matter what is going on in our life we as believers are to “consider it all joy.”  Joy is knowing that no matter what is going on in our lives that God has things under control.  Even though Paul was in prison he knew that God was even using his imprisonment to bring unbelievers to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  “12  Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13  so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14  and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear (Phil. 1:12-14).”

            Paul says in our verse one that he was imprisoned “for the sake of you Gentiles.”  Jesus Christ was not crucified for His own sake but for those who would believe in Him for salvation, and Paul was not in prison for his own sake but for the sake of the Gentiles as he states in verse one.  Make no mistake that Paul suffered for the cause of Christ as he writes to the Colossians in 1:24 “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions.”  Verse 25 says “Of this church I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.” 

            I will finish this SD with a quote from John MacArthur and also by looking at 2 Corinthians 4:8-15:  “Paul knew he was in the ministry because he had been called by God to minster.  He was not in it for his own purposes, and he did try to carry it out in his own power.  He made the supreme sacrifices of unselfish service for the sake of bringing other to glory (Eph. 3:13).  In 2 Corinthians Paul expands our understanding of this commitment: 

‘8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; 9  persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 11 For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death works in us, but life in you. 13 But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE," we also believe, therefore we also speak, 14 knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. 15  For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have a section in my prayer list for our Pastors that speaks of how and why Paul ministered like he did.  I wish to quote it here as it goes along with what we are talking about here.  “If Paul is the ideal human model of one with a pastor’s heart, that is only because he carefully patterned his pastoral ministry after that of Jesus Christ, who perfectly modeled the pastor’s heart during His earthly ministry.  He was the ultimate example of affection for His sheep (John 10:11-16, 27-28), unselfishness for His disciples (John 13:3-17), compassion for His people (John 11:33-44; cf. Matt. 23:37-39), protectiveness toward His lambs (John 10:2-5), delight for His church (Matt. 16:18-19), gratitude for His followers (Matt. 11:25-30), and intercession for His beloved children (John 17:6-26).  That model of the shepherd’s heart is the divine standard for all pastors today.”  Take the time to look at the verses used in this section to help you better understand that Paul’s ministry was like the ministry of Jesus Christ.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to better understand Romans 12:3, and to continue to remember that truth is the important thing, not necessarily emotions.  Trust that the Lord will give me strength to do the ministry that Jesus Christ has given to me to do.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Cyprus” (Acts 13:4-9).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who was the wicked king and queen of Israel during the time of Elijah?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/18/2019 11:40 AM

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 3^rd 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

           

Intro to "The Mystery Revealed" (Eph. 3:1-13)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/16/2019 9:34 AM

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “The Mystery Revealed”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 3:1-13

            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, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 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; 10 so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.”

          To begin with I want to say that I borrowed the title for this SD from John MacArthur’s commentary on this portion of Ephesians chapter three.  We will be looking at an introduction, a short introduction for these verses today.  I have noticed that the word “which” is used five times in this section, so it must be of some significance.

            If you look closely at our text for today you will notice a “-“at the beginning of verse two and this indicates that from verse two to verse thirteen it is included in a parenthesis.  We see here the beginnings of a prayer that Paul is praying for believers to help them understand their resources as on in Christ, but then he decides to reemphasize and expand some of the truths he has formerly mentioned.  His prayer for the believers picks up in verse fourteen where he repeats the phrase “For this reason” in order to pick up the thought which was originally introduced in verse one.  John MacArthur writes “He seems to have felt that the Ephesians were not ready to hear his prayer in their behalf until they better understood—and were therefore better able to apply—the truths he wanted to pray about.  And it seemed essential for Paul to affirm his authority for teaching such a new and far-reaching truth as the oneness of Jew and Gentile in Christ, which he does by saying that God Himself gave him the truth and the commission to proclaim it (vv. 2-7).”

            We have mentioned earlier that the Gentiles and the Jews for the most part hated each other and so all of a sudden we see that God saves Gentiles was very difficult for the Jews to handle, and not only does God save Gentiles, but once both Jews and Gentiles are saved that they are all on in Christ.  I suppose that this is true of different Gentile believers too.  If one looks back at the history of our country when there were slaves and then the slaves became believers it was difficult for the slave owners to think that they were one with the slaves, but that is what Christ does, He makes us all one in Him.

            MacArthur writes the following as a sort of outline to this section:  “The revelation of the mystery is discussed in vv. 1-3, the explanation of it in vv. 4-6, the proclamation of it in vv. 7-9, and finally the intention of it in vv. 10-13.  ‘To be specific,’ he says in verse 6, the sacred secret never before revealed is that ‘the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.’  That verse is essentially a summary of 2:11-22.

            “In 3:1-13 the apostle leads us to focus on five aspects of this divine mystery:  its prisoner, its plan, its preaching, its purpose, and its privileges.”  Lord willing we will begin to look at “The prisoner of the Mystery” in our next SD, and to let you know that will take a few days to get through. 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “He wept bitterly” (Luke 22:62).

Today’s Bible question:  “Who said ‘God your way at this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for you’?”

Answer in our nest SD.

1/16/2019 10:11 AM

PT-2 "United in God's Temple" (Eph. 2:20-22)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/15/2019 9:58 AM

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-2 “United in God’s Temple”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 2:20-22

            Message of the verses:  “20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, 21  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, 22  in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”

            We have been talking about the truth that the Church is the body of Christ, and the Church is also “a holy temple in the Lord.”  There is a truth that we also need to look at and that is that the body of Christ, the church, will not be complete until the last person whom God has chosen in eternity past will become a member in Christ’s body.  I have spoken about this many times in my Spiritual Diaries, and I want to now talk briefly about this once again and add some things that I have thought about because of my studying for my Sunday school class in Revelation.  Once again we have to go back to eternity past where God the Father told His Son that He was going to give Him a bride.  Psalm 2 speaks of this as the psalmist goes back into eternity past to bring out this point.  God would chose a bride for His Son and then His Son would come to earth to pay the price for His bride through His death on the cross.  We mentioned that the church will not be complete until the last person chosen by God receives an effectual call from the Holy Spirit, and once that happens the Body of Christ will be complete and the Lord will then come to the clouds in the air to receive His bride.  This event is called the rapture of the church and is yet to take place. 

            In my Sunday school class of a couple of weeks ago I was teaching on the wrath of God, which is one of God’s attributes and is seen throughout the book of Revelation, especially in the 16^th chapter where we read about God’s final seven plagues given to those on planet earth.  I mentioned that as I viewed the wrath of God from different parts of the Bible that it was like a river that at times flowed slowly and at other times it flowed in rapids and small waterfalls.  As I was thinking about this and then with those whom God chose in eternity past my mind went to two specific acts of God’s wrath seen in the early chapters of Genesis.  In the 6^th chapter of Genesis we read about the flood, and once the flood was over we read that man did not live as long as they did before the flood.  This is a truth that is seen in the book of Genesis.  Next I thought about the tower of Babble where God judged man by confusing the languages so that one day after this judgment people began to speak in different languages and so they went with people who spoke the same language and so most of the people left what we call Babylon.  As I thought about these two judgments my conclusion was that by these two judgments man’s ability to learn began to slow down.  Man did not live as long as before the flood and man could not communicate with others who spoke different languages.  Now as we look at the world we live in today we can see that because of man’s accumulative learning we are back to the ability of man’s ability to learn back before the judgment at Babel.  5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 The LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. 7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another’s speech." 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth (Genesis 11:5-9).  Now you may wonder what my point is in all of this when it comes to having the last person in the Body of Christ to be saved.  My thought is that because of these two judgments that many more people were born into the world.  If the languages had not been changed by the Lord then I believe that mankind would possibility destroyed the world a long time ago.  When we read about what will happen in the tribulation period and how God said that He will destroy those who destroyed the world that I believe this would have happened thousands of years ago.  God chose people for salvation in eternity past to give to His Son, and all of those people have to be born along with all of those who will not accept the forgiveness that God offers through His Son. 

            John MacArthur talks about cathedrals in Europe that have been under construction for hundreds of years as they keep on adding rooms to them, and this pictures the growth of the Church as each new saint becomes a new stone as seen in 1 Peter 2:5 “you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  MacArthur writes “As kingdom citizens, family members, and living stones, believes in Jesus Christ are a holy priesthood who offer up spiritual sacrifices in God’s ‘holy temple.’  As a living functioning, and precious part of that temple, we ‘also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit (se also 2 Cor. 6:16).”  “Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.”

            “The term ‘ a dwelling’ (katoiketerion) carries the idea of a permanent home.  ‘God in the Spirit’ makes His earthly sanctuary in the church, where He takes up permanent residence as Lord.  This would be a vivid perception for people living amid temples in which pagan deities were believed to dwell, as in the temple to Artemis in Ephesus.”  This certainly is not true of the Church as it is not some small physical chamber where idols are kept.  The Church is the vast spiritual body of all the redeemed, where in it resides the Spirit of God.

            MacArthur concludes in comments on this section which concludes our study of the 2^nd chapter of Ephesians by writing “Through the blood, the suffering flesh, the cross, and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, aliens become citizens, strangers become family, idolaters become the temple of the true God, the hopeless inherit the promises of God, those without Christ become one in Christ, those far off are brought near, and the godless are reconciled to God.  Therein is the reconciliation of men to God and men to men.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is all said in the wonderful quote from John MacArthur.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  When I am tempted I need to quote Scripture.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “The Geneva Bible of 1560.”

Today’s Bible question:  “After denying Jesus, what did Peter do when he heard the cock crow?”

Answer in our next SD.

1/15/2019 10:53 AM