The Wisdom of God: If God is all-powerful and perfectly wise, how could he allow suffering to exist? People have always wrestled with this question, many Christians as well. According to the manifold wisdom of God and through the suffering of Christ, we can approach God with freedom and confidence in our time of need. Suffering is not the end of the story. Recorded on May 26, 2024, on Ephesians 3:1-13 by Pastor David Parks.
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Our series, Ephesians: The Gospel in Life, serves as an epilogue to Finding Life in Jesus’ Name from John’s gospel. The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Ephesians reveals much about how the life found by faith in Jesus actually works. This series will touch on themes of grace, identity, purpose, family, the church, spiritual warfare, and more. If you’re considering the life of Jesus or if you’re ready to follow him today, this series is for you.
Sermon Transcript
For the last few weeks and for the next few months, we’ll be working through Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in a sermon series called The Gospel in Life. And today, as we start chapter 3, we’re going to consider the wisdom of God’s plan, hidden in the past, but now revealed to us in Christ. But there’s a mystery here. The mystery, what was really shocking, was that God’s plan included the immense suffering and humiliation of the cross of Christ. No one expected a dying messiah. Of course, Christians believe that after this suffering and death, on the third day, Jesus rose again from the dead as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. But still, God used the greatest tragedy to accomplish the greatest good. Almost no one would’ve thought this is what God’s plan would’ve looked like. However, even with this story of the suffering of the Son of God at the heart of the gospel, and even though the apostles and many of the first followers of Jesus suffered greatly for their faith, suffering is still shocking for many Christians today. Many Christians wonder if God is all-powerful, and if he is perfectly good, how could he allow suffering to exist? People have wrestled with this question as far back as we have a written record. Have you ever wondered how God could allow something evil or painful to intrude into your life? Have you ever prayed/cried out to God in tears/confusion because of the suffering in your life? What can we do in those dark days? What can we say when those difficult questions creep into our hearts? One of the things we can do is look to the stories of those who suffered in the Bible and learn from them. We might look to the stories of Joseph, Job, Naomi, or David and see how they dealt with suffering. But the Apostle Paul’s story is right up there — he suffered greatly because of his faith. And today, we’ll see how he talks about his experience, including the fact that he was an innocent man writing to the Ephesians from prison. But Paul’s perspective is radically different than the ways of this world. If so, grab a Bible/app and open it to Eph 3:1. We’ll unpack this text as we go.
Ephesians 3:1–3 (NIV), “1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles— 2 Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, 3 that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.” In Chapter 1, Paul spelled out the truly cosmic nature of the gospel — that God was working from eternity to eternity to unite all things in/under Christ. In Chapter 2, Paul went on to remind the Ephesians of the radical unity that God has brought to Jews and Gentiles by grace through faith in Jesus. Now, here, he shares how his personal story relates to the unfolding story of God. And he starts by calling himself “the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.” It’s interesting that he doesn’t say he’s a prisoner because of Christ Jesus, but he’s the prisoner of Christ Jesus. This phrase could have several possible meanings. First, he’s a prisoner of Christ because of his commitment to preaching the gospel of Jesus. Reading the book of Acts, we see this was historically true. Paul never broke the law, but he made powerful enemies by preaching Christ, and eventually, their opposition to him led to his imprisonment. Second, he’s a prisoner of Christ in the sense that Jesus had captured him on the road to Damascus. He writes, “Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation.” Paul says that he had already written briefly to the Ephesians about his story. Now, we aren’t sure if he’s referring to something earlier in this letter or if he’s referring to another letter that he wrote, such as the letter to the Colossians, which they might’ve had access to, or if he’s referring to another letter that he wrote to the Ephesians that has been lost to history. But no matter what writing Paul’s referring to here, he knows that they know his story. How he was an enemy of Christ and a zealous persecutor of Christians who tried to destroy the church. That is until he had a vision of the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus. This revelation changed everything for Paul. He went from being an enemy of Christ to becoming a prisoner of Christ, bound to him as his servant. I think Paul used this language to refer to both his conversion and his current situation in prison, basically his whole life in Christ. But for Paul, prison wasn’t without a purpose. He says he’s a “prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.” And, he calls his conversion “God’s grace that was given to me for you,” that is, for the Gentiles, as Jesus had commissioned him to be his apostle to the Gentiles.
Ephesians 3:4–6 (NIV), “4 In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. 6 This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” Paul already mentioned the mystery which was revealed to him by revelation. Here, he says that by knowing his story, then, the Ephesians “will be able to understand [his] insight into the mystery of Christ.” He says that this mystery “was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets.” In other words, God has revealed by divine revelation something new. God revealed this mystery to his holy apostles and prophets, then through the apostles and prophets to the rest of the church. But what? What was the content of this mystery? Paul tells us in v. 6, “…that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.” This is huge. A few weeks ago, we saw that the Gentiles were on the same sinking ship as the Jews before God. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; all are spiritually dead in their transgressions and sins. But here, Paul says the Gentiles aren’t only in the same condition of spiritual death apart from the person and work of Christ as the Jews. The mystery is that now, in Christ, Gentiles receive the same promises God had given generations earlier to the Jews. You see, all the way back in Genesis 12, when God chose the family of Abraham and Sarah and made a covenant with them, it was a covenant of promise. God promised that their family would become a great nation and that they would live in the land of Canaan. God had promised them a people and a place. We see this in Genesis 12:2–3 (NIV), the Lord said to Abraham, “2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” But even as God chose Abraham’s family from all the families of the world, and from all the peoples of the world to be his chosen people, a key part of this promise was that through their people, through the seed/offspring of Abraham, all the peoples on earth would be blessed. There were hints and clues of God’s heart for all peoples throughout the OT. But Jesus was the turning point. As Paul already said, when the Gentiles were without hope and without God in the world, those “…who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” “He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.” (see Eph 2:11-22). So now, the mystery of how God would fulfill his promise to Abraham has been revealed. It was through Jesus, the seed of Abraham, that all people, Jew and Gentile, would be reconciled first to God and then to one another as part of one new body/temple/family/church. So now, “through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the [covenant] promise in Christ Jesus.” From here, Paul goes back to how his story relates to this unfolding story of who God is, what he’s done and is doing by his Son and Spirit, and all he promises for our future in Christ — in other words, how his story relates to the gospel.
Ephesians 3:7-9 (NIV), “7 I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power. 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.” We’ve already mentioned Paul’s conversion from the enemy of Christ to the servant of Christ. This is why he says he’s “…the least of all the Lord’s people.” Paul doesn’t see himself as deserving of any special blessing from God, just the opposite! He was commissioned as the apostle to the Gentiles in an act of pure, unexpected, and undeserved grace. But Paul’s story is just an extreme version of all of our stories. As we’ve already said in this series, we do not become Christians because we’re better, smarter, or more deserving than others. We are Christians because we need Jesus, and we’ve received the gracious gift of Jesus by faith and faith alone. In the same way, Paul didn’t solve this mystery of God because he was so smart he figured it all out on his own. And, he didn’t look within himself and feel it out. He needed something outside himself. He needed God to reveal it to him. But when that happened and when Paul believed, he was given a job to do: “to preach to the Gentiles the boundless riches of Christ, 9 and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.” There are really two parts to that work. First, to preach or literally, to “proclaim good news” to the Gentiles. Now, this can’t refer only to a simple evangelistic message of how to become a Christian, although I’m sure Paul could provide a concise summary of the gospel. But here, he says that he was responsible for communicating the boundless or incalculable riches of Christ. This would include how to become a Christian but also how the cosmic sweep of God’s story relates to and transforms all of life. I see something similar in the Great Commission passage at the end of Matthew’s gospel. After the resurrection, Jesus came to his disciples and sent them out to baptize and to teach. Baptism represents the beginning of the Christian life. But that’s not where Jesus wants us to stop. For the rest of our lives, we’re on a journey of discipleship, of following Jesus, of learning obedience to his word, and of helping others do the same. Maybe some of you kind of gave up after becoming a Christian, thinking you had arrived. But don’t stop. Don’t stop until all the boundless riches of Christ are not only known in your mind but are real to your heart. This was central to Paul’s calling, to preach these things as an apostle to the Gentiles. This is central to my calling, to preach these things to you as your pastor. But this is central to the Christian life for all believers, no matter what your role is in the church: to preach the gospel of the boundless riches of Christ to yourselves and to others as disciples of Jesus. But we must never forget that this mystery and the revelation of this mystery are both God’s prerogative as the one “who created all things” and “through the working of his power.” But what was God’s purpose in this unfolding mysterious plan?
Ephesians 3:10–11 (NIV), “10 His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, 11 according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s intent, his purpose, was that his people, his church (ekklesia, meaning assembly or congregation), would tell the story of his manifold wisdom. Elsewhere, it says that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. No one expected a dying Messiah. No one expected suffering and death to be at the heart of the way to find eternal life. No one knew how God would fulfill his promise to bless all the peoples on the earth through the family of Abraham and Sarah. But it was not according to chance or by accident, it was by the manifold/multifaceted wisdom of God. The gospel was unfolding exactly according to the plan that started before the creation of the world, “his eternal purpose that [the Father] accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This incredible wisdom is now made known through the church, made up of Jews and Gentiles united in Christ…to whom? Paul says this marvelous plan is now made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms. Well, who or what are they? According to the Bible, our reality is both a physical world and a spiritual realm. Just as human beings are both body and soul, so all of creation is both physical and spiritual. And just as God made creatures for our world, so he made creatures for the spiritual realm. Some of these beings are good, and some are not. Paul already mentioned the one known as Satan (which means adversary) or the devil back in Chapter 2, “the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” (Eph 2:2). The people of Ephesus were very familiar with these spiritual forces of evil. We’ll come back to this theme at the end of the letter with the passage on spiritual warfare. But for now, we, the church, are a testimony not only to the world around us as to the manifold wisdom of God and his plan to save people by grace through faith in Christ, but also to the rulers and the authorities of the heavenly realms. But how, then, does this cosmic story relate to our stories? And how does this relate to our suffering?
Ephesians 3:12–13 (NIV), “12 In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. 13 I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.” This is God’s word. So Paul starts and ends this passage talking about his imprisonment and his sufferings for the Gentiles, which suggests that this whole section speaks to his suffering. How does God’s story relate to our stories when our stories include pain, hardship, prison, or other suffering? The whole Bible gives many helpful answers to this big question. But I’ll close with the two that Paul gives us here. First, because the gospel provides a way, that is, in Christ and through faith in Christ, that we have access to the Father. So now, in all the ups and downs of life, we may approach God with freedom and confidence. We can pray to our Father. We can ask for provision and protection from him. And we can know that he will never reject us or forsake us because of our union with Christ. We’ve already been raised; we’ve already been seated in the heavenly realms in Christ. Second, because the gospel is a story that changes our story. How much did Jesus change Paul’s story? Like, in every way. How much can Jesus change our story? Well, he’s the same Jesus yesterday, today, and forever. He is still risen, he is still seated at the right hand of God the Father in glory, and he will still return one day as he has promised to renew and restore all things in heaven and earth. How could a God who is all-powerful and perfectly good allow pain and suffering? Because he is using it, he’s redeeming it, and through it all, he will be faithful to do what he has promised to do. And one day, “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:4). Until then, may we be people and may we be a church who make known the manifold wisdom of God in the boundless riches of Christ. Let us pray.