Ephesians 3
Ephesians 3:1-21
1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—
2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,
3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already,
4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ),
5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:
6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel,
7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.
8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;
10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,
11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
13 Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.
14 For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
15 from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—
19 to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
20 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,
21 to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
There is so much in the text of this passage, hehe, like all of Paul’s passages, but the depth of this one is so precious.
The message of infallible love of our Father is just so deep and precious, and it is truly what enables anything that we have in Christ. It was His love that made a way for us to be reconciled to Him through the sacrifice of His only Son. Wow.
Verse 10 is what really struck me this morning, and I looked at it also in the Passion Translation which says, “The purpose of this was to unveil before every throne and rank of angelic orders in the heavenly realm God’s full and diverse wisdom revealed through the church.”
WE HAVE A PART TO PLAY! Not only do we have a part to play in spreading the knowledge of God and His love to this world, but this verse says that we are supposed to put every throne and rank of angelic orders in the heavenly realm on notice!
The Amplified Bible says, “[The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.”
There is no such thing as a sideline Christian. We are not on the bench; we are not on the B team. WE HAVE A JOB to do, every moment of every day until we reach glory. If we aren’t using our mouth to put the heavenlies on notice of who we are, what authority we have and start wielding that authority in accordance with God’s plan and purpose, then we are allowing the spirits of the air to run amuck! There is plenty of running amuck in this world, it is time that the church rises up and does the job that God gave us to do. To spread His love to this world, to fulfill His calling on our lives, to be rooted and grounded in love so that we can be ministers of reconciliation of His love to the world.
The revelation of Christ, His love, and its expansive purpose is the unshakeable foundation on which the church is built. It comes as a dispensation of grace on those undeserving in themselves but simply receptive and responsive to its truth. While this revelation initially came to Paul and the apostles by grace, it is through the church that it is to be revealed to the world as His love is freely shed abroad in our hearts by grace. Since this is such a great responsibility and undertaking, it is also a strategic target of the enemy who uses countless schemes to disrupt and diminish love’s purpose. It is not just something that is claimed without contention. It’s like our national freedoms that are so quickly slipping away; they cannot be retained without a fight. As Paul’s prayer is for inner strengthening, the dwelling of Christ, comprehension of love, and the filling of God, these things must be more than just claimed, but tenaciously contended for.
By faithfully accessing the throne of grace to pray for this manifestation of the Father’s love, there can be great hope for this continued prayer to be answered in a manner exceedingly abundantly more than we can express or expect. Every day this grace will need activation as each day it will be challenged. Participation in this working of grace, though, is joining with the overwhelming force of a church that hell’s greatest strongholds will not be able to withstand.
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