You are a Steward of the Gospel

Outline

4 actions that enable us to steward the gospel

I. Trust in God’s Revelation

Ephesians 3:1-5 - For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles – if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 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…

Isaiah 45:15a - Truly, You are a God who hides Himself…

A. God delights in talking to His people

Deuteronomy 29:29 - The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

B. God’s Spirit is the ultimate author

Ephesians 3:5b - …[this mystery] has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit.

Galatians 1:6-9 - I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

II. Understand the Power of the Gospel

A. The gospel creates a new family

B. The gospel joins together an unlikely body

C. The gospel extends God’s promises to everyone

III. Proclaim the Unfathomable Riches of Christ

A. Christ’s riches were meant to be shared

Ephesians 3:8-9 - To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.

B. Christ’s church was meant to grow

Ephesians 3:10 - …[this mystery was brought to light] 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.

IV. Rest in God for the Results

1 Corinthians 4:1-2 - Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

1 Corinthians 3:6-7 - I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

A. Christ emboldens us to proclaim the gospel

Ephesians 3:11-13 - This [revealed mystery] was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.

B. Christ comforts us by giving us access to Him

Hebrews 4:14-16 - Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We are continuing with our annual theme Building on Our Heritage.

I’ve really appreciated and enjoyed this emphasis. I have certainly been learning some things about Faith Church’s history and heritage that have really helped me appreciate more the Faith Church of today. It has also helped me want to continue to build on that heritage such that Faith continues to have a strong gospel witness here and abroad.

• The emphasis on the heritage should help us be very thankful for the men and women who really were diligent and faithful in building faithfully upon the foundation of the gospel.

At the same time as we consider our church’s heritage, we are also being reminded of the heritage that we have in the gospel.

I’m guessing that most of us in this room are Gentiles...meaning we are not ethnically Jewish...part of what we’ll see in this text today is our heritage as partakers in the gospel and the promises comes to us, because God used­­—primarily the apostle Paul—to reach the Gentiles with the gospel.

• This same issue was hit on last week when Pastor Green preached on Ephesians 2:11–22.

Paul began that section by reminding the Gentiles that they were “separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

• That’s part of our heritage as Gentiles...our far distant heritage 2000 years ago. But remembering that heritage is quite important for us today.

• We could have been born at a time in history before Jesus Christ, and as Gentiles had little to no hope of ever coming to know the God of Israel or be saved!

• And who is responsible for us being born in this time period where there is hope for the Gentiles?

• Our gracious, sovereign Lord.

Thanks to the grace of God, he made a way “in Jesus Christ” to be “brought near by the blood of Christ.”

We certainly need to be reminded of that...especially in a culture when everything is “too expensive.” And of course after just passing “tax day.” And in an election year and so forth...we need to be reminded of what really, really matters. And if we take to heart the passage we are going to be studying today, we will be so incredibly thankful.

We’re going to be in Ephesians 3 this morning, so you can go ahead and turn there.

The title of the message this morning is You are a Steward of the Gospel Mystery.

Now the word mystery might seem like a weird word there. But that word is important in our text today. So I really want you to take note of the word “mystery”.

• It will be hard for us steward the gospel mystery if we don’t know what that mystery is!

[Read Eph. 3:1-13]

With the time that we have remaining we are going to be focusing on 4 actions that enable us to steward the gospel

I. Trust in God’s Revelation

The first action is to trust in God’s revelation.

Now, I’m guessing that this passage might be a little bit challenging to wrap your mind around...Paul’s flow here is a little interesting.

• It took me a lot of time and effort and reading it and thinking about it and studying it to really get a grasp of this myself.

So I want to bring you along and to see how this flows...

Ephesians 3:1–5 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;

First, notice at the end of v.1 you have the long hyphen there...that is cluing us into a digression that Paul is making here in vv.2 and following. In fact, on close inspection the first verse is actually an incomplete sentence.

• To make it complete sentence, some have actually modified it by adding a verb so it would say, “for this reason I, Paul, AM the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.”

But that shouldn’t be supplied...Paul seems to be beginning to pray for the Gentiles and then after that brief beginning into the prayer, he pauses and makes a digression that goes all the way through v.13.

And then in v.14 he resumes the prayer with the same introductory phrase as v.1--“for this reason.”

The question is why? Why such a short beginning to prayer and then the tangent?

In this digression he really emphasizes how God has revealed to him the mystery.

If I can say it this way...Paul is super exited and giddy that God has revealed this mystery to him and as we seen in v.5 also the “his holy apostles and prophets.”

• Paul is ecstatic that God reveals himself and his plan!

• So ecstatic is Paul that he barely begins his prayer before he pauses and let’s his excitement burst out in explanation!

After all, God isn’t obligated to show himself to us...

Isaiah 45:15 Truly, You are a God who hides Himself...

• The context of that passage is that God hides himself from the Gentile idol worshippers...that could have been us were it not for the grace of God revealing himself, rather than hiding himself!

God delights in talking to his people

I hope Paul’s attitude here--his boyish excitement in God revealing this mystery and making it known helps us be amazed that God delights in talking to his people!

We have a God who speaks and communicates with his people.

• One of the foundational doctrines that has been the marching drum of Faith Church for the past 40+ years has been the belief that God has spoken to us in His Word and that His Word that is recorded in the Scriptures is sufficient for life and godliness.

It’s the belief that what we have in the Bible...the 39 books of the OT and the 27 books of the NT...is the complete revelation of what God wanted us to have in order to know him, in order to know and understand ourselves and how to relate to him, to understand this world he created, and to understand his plan.

• God hasn’t given us more than we need and he hasn’t given us less than what we need. He has given us exactly what we need.

• That’s why in the preaching, in the Sunday school classes, in the counseling room, in the workplace, marriage, parenting and everywhere the Bible is our source of truth for how to live, think and emote for the glory of God.

Is the Bible true? I am not asking if there is truth in it, say, the way there is truth in Moby Dick, or Plato’s Republic, or The Lord of the Rings. Aspects of truth can be found virtually everywhere. What I am asking is this: Is the Bible completely true? All of it. Is it so trustworthy in all that it teaches that it can function as the test of all other claims to truth? This book is about how the Bible gives good grounds for the answer yes. The Bible is completely true. (Piper, A Peculiar Glory, p. 11)^[1]

The answer that John Piper gives in that question is the answer of this church...the Bible is completely true and functions as the test to other claims of truth. That’s why we give preeminence to the written Word of God...because that is God’s communication to us.

It is sometimes quipped like this: If you want to hear God talk to you, then read His Word. If you want to audibly hear God talk to you....then read His Word out loud!

We don’t have time to really unpack why we don’t believe that God speaks to us audibly, or primarily speaks to us in signs and fleeces and so forth...but that is a really important issue to understand well.

So if you’re interested in pursuing that further, Kevin DeYoung wrote a book called Taking God at His Word: Why the Bible is Knowable, Necessary, and Enough and What That Means for You and Me. John Piper also wrote a great book on this called A Peculiar Glory: How the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness

The kinds of truths that found in this books, are part of the significant heritage that this church has heralded for many, many years under the leadership of Pastor Bill Goode and Pastor Viars.

• That is a heritage that I am so, so thankful for and I know many of you are as well. But that’s a heritage that has to be continued to be maintained and cared for moving forward if we are going to continue to be a faithful church of Jesus Christ.

Now, I told you to pay attention to the word “mystery.”

• The revelation of this mystery is what Paul is so, so ecstatic about!

God doesn’t reveal everything...unashamedly the Lord even tells us he doesn’t reveal everything...

Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.

There are plenty of things that are still a mystery to us...and many, many people get really caught up wanting to know the things, that God hasn’t revealed to us.

• For example, one super popular “Christian” author, in the introduction to the book that made her famous says that she needed to hear from God so badly that she decided she would sit and wait until God spoke to her and that she wouldn’t leave that place until he did speak. And then she says then he started to speak and I started to write down what he told me.

Now on the surface, that may sound great...because she is saying she wants to hear from the Lord. But on the other hand, if God has said that he has given us “everything we need for life and godliness” in the Scriptures, then what she is seeking from hearing further from God outside of his word is actually very, very low view of God’s revealed Word in the Bible.

• Lest we be too hard on this author, let me give you one example of how we all struggle to want to focus on the secret things of Lord rather than on what has been revealed to us...

• The future...we get really caught up wanting to know what tomorrow is going to be as Matthew 6:34 says...

• God has revealed many things about the future, but our specific future in this life the Bible has been so clear with us...we don’t know. Trust in God and what he has revealed.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Neglecting God’s written Word is really bad news because it’s not just the words of mere humans...

God’s Spirit is the ultimate Author

Ephesians 3:5 ... [this mystery] has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;

What we have is not simply the product of men...if it were the Bible would be absolutely riddled with errors and contradictions...

That’s why Paul’s boldness and authority in proclaiming the gospel message goes beyond himself...he isn’t the ultimate authority even though he is the primary revealer of this mystery in the New Testament and to the Gentiles...

• What he has declared, he doesn’t have the authority or freedom to change or go against...

Galatians 1:6–9

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; ⁷ which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! ⁹ As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

So if we want to stand before the Lord who has revealed his gospel to us and be found faithful stewards, we better trust in his revelation!

A second action to steward the gospel is to understand the power of the gospel.

II. Understand the Power of the Gospel

We certainly won’t understand the power of the gospel without trusting in God’s revelation...

And this is where the “mystery” that Paul is so pumped about comes into play...

• The revelation of the “mystery” is the revelation of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In short summary, he tells us what the mystery is in verse 6.

Ephesians 3:6 to be specific [this mystery 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,

Now, this is basically a summary of what he told us in Ephesians 2:11-22. So he already unpacked the mystery even though he didn’t explicitly call out that it was a “mystery.”

But there are 3 summary words or phrases that make up this incredible mystery that Paul is so ecstatic about.

The first is the gentiles are:

• FELLOW HEIRS

• 2^nd, they are MEMBERS OF THE SAME BODY...

• 3^rd, they are PARTAKERS OF THE PROMISE

And this all comes to be “IN JESUS CHRIST, THROUGH THE GOSPEL.”

The gospel creates a new family

So first, the Gentiles are FELLOW HEIRS...meaning they are FELLOW HEIRS with the Jews. The gospel is so powerful that it creates a new family.

• It creates a new family that has nothing to do with normal familial bonds and relationships.

Pastor Green highlighted this last week, but the joining of the Jews and the Gentiles into one body, in is stunning! This wasn’t taking two groups of people that have similar interests and likes and bringing them together in one group.

This is somewhat like taking republicans and democrats and creating one united political party out of them.

• The kind of cooperation necessary to create one political party out of those two groups is unthinkable. The polarization between those groups is so strong that to put them together would be to increase hostility!

That’s the kind polarization there was between Jews and Gentiles.

Just to give you a flavor of how significant the dividing wall of hostility was between the Jews and Gentiles, I’m going to recap quickly a story that takes place in Acts 21–22.

In Acts 21 Paul goes to Jerusalem, which is he warned about doing because the Judaizers are very angry with Paul for his preaching and especially his preaching to the Gentiles.

• So when he is in Jerusalem he is arrested in the Temple...and the arrest is a gentle one...

Acts 21:27–29 When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸ crying out, “Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” ²⁹ For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.

So they drag him out of the temple and start beating Paul seeking to kill him. Soldiers show up and save him from being beat to death...

After the soldiers drag him away from the mob, Paul wants to address the crowd and the soldiers allow him to do it.

Acts 22:2 notes this...

Acts 22:2 And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet...

So the crowd that was just ferociously trying to beat Paul to death is now listening intently because he is speaking Hebrew...essentially that are fairly shocked that Paul speaks Hebrew based on the charges that were made against him...so they listen intently and I would even say excitedly to what he says, until verse 21...

Acts 22:21–22 And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’ ” ²² They listened to him up to this statement, and then they raised their voices and said, “Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he should not be allowed to live!”

It is these two groups of people that the gospel brings such peace between, that they become one family together! That is the power of the gospel!

The gospel joins together an unlikely body

Next, the gospel joins and unlikely body...

Paul actually seems to invent a word here to describe this. But what Paul is in short form trying to do, is get across the incredibly peace and unity that has been made between the Jews and the Gentiles in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The gospel extends God’s promises to everyone

And then finally, the gospel extends God’s promises to everyone.

• We knew the Jews would be included.

• And we knew there was a way from Gentiles to become Jews and become partakers of the promise, but that was rare...that was never expected to be a massive group.

But the power of the gospel has brought the message of salvation to those who were FAR OFF...the message of salvation was found in Israel...a geographically small place in the world...not only were Gentiles spiritually FAR OFF, but geographically they were far off as well...But the power of the gospel over came those barriers and has brought many Gentiles near and into being partakers of the great promises that were made in the OT to the Jews.

• We Gentiles become partakers of those promises through faith in Jesus Christ!

Now, if we understand this...then we have to humble ourselves and not assume that anybody is beyond the power of the gospel!

• Your family member that is living a homosexual lifestyle right now and wants nothing to do with the gospel...they are FAR OFF...they are FAR OFF like the Gentiles were before the mystery of the gospel was revealed in Jesus Christ!

• Do not give up hope...continue to pray and look for opportunities to share the good news of the gospel with them.

• Pray for them...and look for opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them.

• You’ve demonstrated the love of Christ for years faithfully to them. You’ve prayed for them and there doesn’t seem to be any softening to the message of Jesus.

• There was 1500 years of history for the Jews to say...look the Gentiles have never for a second softened to the God of Israel...

• Do not give up hope. Let your pastor’s know and we’ll pray with you and not give up hope in the power of the gospel to reach your spouse.

• Perfect jobs, perfect kids, perfect everything.

• They don’t ever seem to have any problems, they catch all the breaks...

• They have no need of Jesus whatsoever...the idea of being in need of help is so FAR OFF to them...

• Pray and plant the seeds of the gospel...

We too were FAR OFF. I’m super thankful that people didn’t just conclude I’m too FAR OFF, there is no reason to share the gospel with him.

III. Proclaim the unfathomable riches of Christ

Friends if we understand that, then we need to proclaim the unfathomable riches of Christ.

These riches are meant to be shared...

You know how children just love to share secrets that they are supposed to keep a secret?

• Like trying to do a surprise party for one of your family members and as soon as they know it’s a surprise they just have to go tell the person?

It’s just amazing how our sinfulness works...secrets...or can I say “mysteries” that shouldn’t be shared we share! And then the mystery that God has revealed and said go share, we often keep secret.

Christ’s riches were meant to be shared

The point is, Christ’s riches...his unfathomable riches are meant to be shared.

• And they are meant to be shared with those who are FAR OFF!

Ephesians 3:8–9

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;

Paul had to take the revelation of the mystery and the unfathomable riches of Christ to the Gentiles!

• The Gentiles didn’t come to him.

Jesus came down from heaven to bring the good news of salvation to us...we didn’t go to him!

Tim Keller was interviewed fairly shortly before he died in May of 2023.

• In this interview they were asking all kinds of questions on the state of the church and ministry lessons and so forth...

One of the questions that was asked had to do with what are the challenges of the church in America...

• Part of his answer was, the evangelical church for decades now, has believed that the culture and society had the necessary furniture to believe and understand the gospel, and that there was social benefit to being in church.

• So many people would simply come if they were invited, or at some point in their life that probably would come check it out because there is social benefit and then it wouldn’t be a big step for them to hear the gospel and believe.

Friends, the gospel has never really worked that way...from the beginning, the gospel was always a message that had to be taken by believers to those who didn’t think they needed it! It had to be taken to those who are FAR OFF!

That’s the point of community based out reach...and trying to rub shoulders with our neighbors as much as possible. We want to take the message of the gospel to our neighbors, rather than waiting for them to come through the doors of the church.

If we are going to do that, I truly believe you need to understand that there are UNFATHOMABLE RICHES IN CHRIST!

• I mean when you think about that phrase...how am I supposed to help you or myself grab ahold of the UNFATHOMABLE RICHES of Christ in just one sermon?

• There is literally a lifetime of sermons in that phrase!

I want to point out just 2 things to help open your eyes just a little to how unfathomable these riches are...

First, Ephesians 2:7...verse 6 says essentially, “he saved us”...

Ephesians 2:7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Wow...what that verse says, is that God saved you...he gave you his amazing grace in this life, SO THAT he could get you into eternity to show you the SURPASSING RICHES OF HIS GRACE IN KINDNESS TOWARDS US IN CHRIST JESUS!

• It will take an eternity to grasp the riches of his grace towards us!

Now ask yourself, “Do you wake up everyday excited to see what riches of Christ will be revealed to you today?”

• I can tell you if you do, you’ll be excited to open God’s Word and dig into it...because that’s where they are revealed.

• You’ll have an excitement and joy going into your day, because God is going to be working sovereignly in your circumstances today to help you know the riches of Christ more!

Do you ever struggle with boredom?

• Boredom at work, boredom in your family, boredom with God’s Word, the church, serving?

• It’s the church house...it’s quite alright to be honest!

Boredom is a human struggle...it’s a struggle for Christians...but this is where you have to let the word of God cut to your heart...if there are UNFATHOMABLE RICHES IN CHRIST, then please tell me we understand that to give into to boredom is a problem?

• We need to take a passage like this and meditate and pray and seek the Lord and repent that if this is true, then when we are bored our view of life is wrong...as Christians we should be overjoyed in the riches of Christ!

• Not the riches of YouTube, or social media or the news...

Now, just one more verse I’ll point you to...the Greek word that is used in Eph. 3:8 that is translated “UNFATHOMABLE” shows up one other place in the NT.

It shows up in Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!

It’s translated the exact same way in that verse...unfathomable.

This verse comes at the end of a long section in Romans that begins in chapter 9 and goes through 11. That whole section, is unpacking in detail the mystery of the gospel that Paul is talking about in our passage in Ephesians.

• What is the relationship between the Jews and the Gentiles.

At the end of that section, where Paul essentially lays out history from the patriarchs to Jesus Christ and then New Testament Church that includes the Gentiles, he ends it with Romans 11:33...and what Paul sees in the plan of God throughout history is “the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”

Is that how you view history?

• That all of history is communicating the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God?

Not just some of history...God’s redemptive plan in the World through Jesus Christ, bringing Jews and Gentiles together isn’t just A narrative or storyline in the World, it is THEE storyline and narrative in the World!

• The presidential election or the economy isn’t the main narrative...ABC and NBC and Fox News and CNN don’t have a clue what the World is about!

• Don’t let their narratives pull you away from seeing the unfathomable riches of Christ Jesus.

Now maybe you ask, “How is the presidential election about the unfathomable riches of Christ?”

• Well that’s a big question...so about all I have time to say is, “God sets up rulers and kingdoms for his plans.”

• They are little authorities underneath his authority. Don’t give into the lie for a second that this world is out of control...it may look out of control, but God is absolutely in control and nothing is happening apart from his unfathomable wisdom and knowledge!

Christ’s church was meant to grow

Now if we really understand the unfathomable riches of Christ, we’ll also understand that we are to proclaim those riches because Christ’s church is mean to grow.

• It’s meant to grow because the church is about bringing glory to God! The glory of God is why this universe exists!

Now, I know I’m running out of time...but verse 10 is a massively important verse! This verse has huge implications for how you live your life.

Paul says, the mystery was revealed to him so that 1) he would preach to the Gentiles and 2) bring to light FOR EVERYONE what is administration (or the plan) of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God...

• He does that for this purpose...

Ephesians 3:10 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.

This verse is fascinating...

God essentially says, “Jesus Christ and the gospel was meant to bring Jews and Gentiles together in such a fascinating way in the church that no one could have ever seen so that God’s manifold wisdom would be on display for “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

• The rulers and authorities is referring to angelic beings...it’s referring to angels both good angels and demons!

The church of God...us...little old us exists, so that the angelic world would see the manifold wisdom of God!

Quick note on the world “manifold” -- this is a unique world that Paul uses.

• It’s compound word that again seems like Paul made up just for this occasion.

• The main root of the world means diverse and varied.

• Then Paul puts a prefix on it that means many.

So the world means much variation, many-sided, vastly-varied.

God’s wisdom in other words, is so multi-faceted and varied, and multi-dimensional, and it is through the church that he is putting it on display for the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places!

This is not the only verse, but it is a really important verse why our church emphasizes and prioritizes the church and being a member of a local church.

• We as a church are certainly known for Biblical Counseling, one of the main priorities of the Biblical Counseling is that it be done within the context of the church.

• We don’t view any of our ministries, whether it be counseling, or the school, or Restoration or Vision of Hope or the Seminary as primary themselves...

• The church is primary and those ministries must function underneath the church...

• And if it came down to choosing between the church and one of those ministries...we would choose the church...because the church reveals the manifold wisdom of God!

So, I definitely want to ask you, “Are you member of a local church?”

• If you’re not a member of church I’m really asking you to take this text seriously.

Essentially, this verse divides history and God says that at this point in history after the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, the church is the focal point God in history.

• Your job, your family, your nation, are not the focal point of God revealing his manifold wisdom!

• Don’t hear me say those things aren’t important...but the clear emphasis in Scripture is Christ died for the church and when someone trust in Christ they are to be gathered into the church.

So if you’re not a member of a church I think you need to prioritize making that happen.

Now, if you have never repented of your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then that needs to happen before you can join the church.

• But I cannot urge you in this regard enough...your life isn’t about you...

• Your life is about displaying the unfathomable riches of Christ and the manifold wisdom of God to all of the heavenly beings!

I hope that you want your life to be used to display the riches and wisdom of God.

• If so, trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, join the church and then prioritize life in the church for the rest of your life.

So, trust in God’s Revelation, Understand the power of the gospel, Proclaim the unfathomable riches of Christ and finally, Rest in God for the results.

IV. Rest in God for the Results

1 Corinthians 4:1–2 Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ² In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. ⁷ So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.

Christ emboldens us to proclaim the gospel

It is the through faith...not through works that Christ emboldens us to proclaim the gospel...

Ephesians 3:11–13 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.

It’s in Christ that we have boldness and confidence...

It’s on Christ’s authority that we have the command to proclaim the gospel...we don’t need permission from anyone else.

• It doesn’t matter what the government or culture says.

• - You have the authority of the Creator of the Universe to proclaim the gospel!

Be bold in him. He wants you to be bold, ask him for that courage and boldness to proclaim the good news!

Christ comforts us by giving us access to him

This text says we have access through faith in Him.

Elsewhere Scripture speaks of the access we have to God through Jesus and that should comfort us.

Hebrews 4:14–16 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

God knows we are weak. God knows he’s given us a big job. Stewarding the gospel...stewarding the unfathomable riches of Christ is a huge responsibility.

• It’s one that we need help with. Praise the Lord that not only does he lavish upon us grace and riches, but he also provides 24/7 access to him so that we can be comforted by Christ.

Friends, I sure hope we count ourselves the most privileged people in the world...

• God has revealed in Jesus Christ through his Word, the mystery of the gospel...that salvation is for the Jews and the Gentiles and we have been brought together into the CHURCH. And that reality displays the unfathomable riches of Christ and his manifold wisdom!

I pray that as a church we would grasp that reality and live out that reality more and more.

[1] John Piper, A Peculiar Glory: Wow the Christian Scriptures Reveal Their Complete Truthfulness (Wheaton: Crossway, 2016), 11.