In these verses Paul takes a slight diversion from what he started saying in verse 1 and will pick up and continue saying in verse 14. He was going to say that because they are all one body, the dwelling place of God by the Spirit, he prays for them. But as he does that he feels he has to explain why he does that from a personal point of view. He wants to explain something of the part he plays in bringing God's grace to people.

The reason he can bring God's grace to all people is that he has received revelation from God of a mystery that was in the heart of God for centuries but only just now revealed. What had perplexed Jewish scholars for centuries has now been made known to the apostles as they had witnessed Jesus' life, and as the Holy Spirit taught them after Christ had ascended.

The mystery was very simply that God had been working, and had now worked out, that Jew and Gentile were now both members of the one body of the people of God and sharers in the inheritance that was promised as a consequence of Christ's death. It was to the understanding of this truth that Paul had become party when he had been drawn to Christ and taught by the Spirit. It was this understanding that now prompted him to pray for the body of Christ, the church.

D. Application?

1. The Gospel comes by revelation as the Spirit makes it known to us.

2. The Gospel is that ALL peoples come to God the same way.

Chapter: Ephesians 3

Passage: Ephesians 3:7-9

A. Find Out:

1. By what two things did Paul become called? v.7

2. How did Paul view himself? v.8a

3. Yet what was given him? v.8b

4. What was he to preach? v.8c

5. What was he to make plain? v.9a

6. Why was that necessary? v.9b

B. Think :

1. What was Paul's calling?

2. What was necessary to enable him to do that?

3. What does that say to us today?

C. Comment :

Paul has already spoken of his calling to declare the mystery of God's purpose that was hidden for centuries but not made clear. In these few verses he repeats himself but with a particular emphasis.

The first rather obvious thing to note is that Paul "became" a servant of God. It was a calling and not a natural ability. Following on swiftly from that is the truth that he became a servant when he was given God's grace to do it. Now grace is God's gift to live in a particular way, and Paul adds that this grace came through the power of God working in him. This is the key to why this man was like he was. He had encountered the risen Christ on the Damascus road and had a power encounter that had completely changed him!

Paul saw himself as no great person, despite all his natural abilities (see Philippians 3:4-6) and uses this to emphasise the wonder of God's love pouring out that grace on him. His task, given by the working of God in him, was to reveal what was naturally unknowable, the wonder of all that comes through the work of Christ on the Cross, the wonder of our inheritance today because of His ongoing working in us. These were the marvellous things that Paul had to convey.

D. Application?

1. We are Christians with a particular calling because of God's working.

2. We are what we are and will be what we will be because of all that Jesus

achieved on the Cross.

Chapter: Ephesians 3

Passage: Ephesians 3:10-13

A. Find Out:

1. What was to be made known? v.10a

2. To whom was it to be made known? v.10b

3. Of what was it the expression? v.11

4. What may we now do because of Jesus? v.12

5. What does Paul ask them not to be? v.13a

6. Why might they have been this? v.13b

B. Think :

1. Why, according to this passage, is the church important?

2. What is wonderful about our position today?

3. How should that affect our general outlook?

C. Comment :

Speaking further about the working out of this mystery that has now been revealed, Paul now declares its UNIVERSAL PURPOSE : to reveal to all the unseen, angelic world, both good and bad, the incredible wisdom of God. The puzzle had been how God could ever have anything to do with sinful men, and how sinful men could ever have anything to do with God.

Now by the death of Christ, God and man can be reconciled because man's sin has been punished and dealt with by Christ, and it is no longer an issue between God and men who seek Him through Christ.

When the angels in heaven see this they marvel at it and praise and worship the Lord who is God (see this in Revelation 5:9-14). When the fallen angels see it they gnash their teeth in the awareness that their hold over men is broken and an opposition to them is rising up in the earth. Thus the church (us!!!) reveals the fruit of God's will that was expressed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We have been brought into intimate relationship with God and therefore anything that happens to us today should be seen in the light of this wonderful plan, and brought into perspective: God will be glorified through me and my circumstances as He leads me through them!

D. Application?

1. The church reveals the wonder of God's wisdom worked out.

2. The church causes the angels to worship God.

Chapter: Ephesians 3

Passage: Ephesians 3:14-19

A. Find Out:

1. What does Paul first ask for? v.16

2. How does God do that? v.16

3. What will be the first effect? v.17a

4. What will be the second effect? v.17b

5. What does he next pray for them? v.17b,18

6. And what two further things? v.19

B. Think :

1. What are the resources that are available to us?

2. What are we to know about and experience?

3. What is the ultimate promise?

C. Comment :

We are going to have to take several runs at this last part of Chapter 3 because there is so much in it. First of all, Paul picks up where he had left off at verse 1: "for this reason". What reason? The wonder of what he had been saying at the end of chapter 2: that we are a dwelling of God. This produces in Paul a sense of awe and wonder that makes him bow before God and pray that we might really understand and experience the wonder of this.

There is within this passage a constant awareness in Paul of what it is we are receiving: the "glorious riches" of God, all of His marvellous provision, the full extent of all the resources of His wonderful being, i.e. unlimited power and wisdom that is Love. That all comes to us in the form of the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, who expresses Christ within us, who shares God's love into us and through us. This love roots or anchors us in Him and establishes our lives, but the problem is that we so often just don't realise how great and wonderful this love is, and we therefore don't experience and enter into it. That is why Paul prays as he does. He knows we need help in appreciating even a small part of the wonder of what is ours in Christ.

D. Application?

1. Do we take for granted the wonder of the Christian life: God in us?

2. We need to pray with Paul: Lord help us to understand and experience

more of this wonder.

Chapter: Ephesians 3

Passage: Ephesians 3:17-21

A. Find Out:

1. Why do we first need power? v.18

2. Why do we next need it? v.19a

3. What may we receive in part? v.19b

4. Of what is God capable? v.20a

5. How is He able to do that? v.20b

6. Where is He to be glorified? v.21

B. Think :

1. How many times is power mentioned in verses 16-21?

2. Where is that power operating?

3. How is it able to operate like that?

C. Comment :

Yes, the consequence of being indwelt by the Spirit of God is that we are indwelt by unlimited power. Now this thought so frightens many Christians today that they virtually deny the reality of it. Paul had spoken about power through His Spirit (v.16) and now power to know and experience this love (v.18) and power working within us (v.20) and this power IS God Himself, it is not some abstract "thing", it is God Himself, and He is unlimited!

Now that power a) strengthens us and b) helps us realise the reality of God's love and c) enables us to enter into something of the working of God on earth. Yes, this power enables us to share in just a part or a measure of the fullness of God; we may have a glimpse of the extent of the wonderful being who is God and experience just a bit of the wonder of communion with Him.

This God is worthy of all praise and honour and glory and it is seen and expressed in Jesus Christ AND in His church, not in the somewhat mundane "services" but in the dynamic life of the Spirit that individuals and the body live by. Is that how it is in your "church"? Then pray for it to be so!

D. Application?

1. When God came into our lives, living, unlimited power entered in.

2. That power is released or manifested when God is allowed by us to

express Himself in us and through us. May we not quench Him.

RECAP: "A Preacher & his Prayer" Ephesians 3

SUMMARY :

In these 5 studies we have seen:

- Paul's “mystery ministry”

    - given by God's revelation to him

    - to declare a mystery hitherto hidden

    - that Gentiles are also heirs



- Paul's prayer for power

    - for them to be strengthened

    - for them to know God's love in reality

    - for them to be filled with God

COMMENT :

Paul goes to pray, from his place of weakness in prison, but then seems to take strength by being reminded just what his ministry is. After that he is then able to say, “Don't worry about me, I'm praying for you”.

In this chapter are some wonderful truths about the Gospel and about the wonder of who we have been called to be: people with purpose and people endued with power from on high.

LESSONS :

1. The Gospel only comes by revelation.

2. We are what we are by God's working in us.

3. We reveal God's wisdom by who we are.

4. I constantly need God's power flowing in me.

5. That power reveals His love more and more.

6. All glory goes to Him.

PRAY :

Thank the Lord for your calling and ask Him to release His power in your life more and more.

PART 4 : "Growing Up into Maturity"

In this next Part we will see Paul urging us, the readers, to live lives that are worthy of our calling, lives that receive the grace of God, through the giftings of the church, and bring about a unity in the body. There is much practical instruction coming.