The Mystery of Christ Is Now Revealed – Ephesians 3 – DTS012

LRBush3_PodArt_small150The more you come to understand about God, the more there will be to understand.  The more you understand of God’s love, the more you can experience and know God’s love.  There is always more to become, and more to know. This is part of the width, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ.

This love that surpasses knowledge has included all people in Christ through the gospel.  By grace alone we are able to come to Him, not by first becoming a Jew or first undergoing some ritual. Ephesians chapter 3 expands on the mystery of what God revealed to Paul about including all people in His plan for salvation.  This was not something that Paul sat down and reasoned out, but was a new revelation of something that the Old Testament prophets did not understand.  The old prophets knew that God would reach out to Gentiles and call us to Himself, but not that we would be able to come as we are without first becoming Jews or following the Laws given to Moses.

Paul’s ministry was centered on this call to all people, regardless of who or where you are, to come to Christ and be saved by grace through faith.  Paul describes himself as a steward of God’s grace, a servant of the gospel, and as suffering for the glory others would receive through Christ.  He was a missionary that preached Christ alone, taught theological principles so we can understand the message of God’s grace in salvation, and he showed how the church is the visible proof that God’s purposes will be accomplished.

This is part 5 of a 6 part series Dr. Bush taught on Ephesians in January of 1980 at the First Baptist Church of Ballinger, Texas.  It was part of a larger series that he called Theologoumenon, in which he went to churches and taught anyone who would come.  Part 1 was an introduction and the first two verses, Part 2 was Ephesians 1:3-14, Part 3 was Ephesians 1:15-23, and Part 4 was Ephesians chapter 2. The next episode will be the last in this series on Ephesians, studying chapters 4 though 6.