“THE STEWARDSHIP OF THE MYSTERY”

I have looked forward to this series as it deals with a Truth which has become very real to me, ever since it was first revealed to me many years ago.

The Apostle Paul referred to it as “the mystery that once was hidden from the past ages and generations...”; and he stated that, “God had made him the steward of this mystery”; “to  make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory”. (Col.1:25-27)

To do justice to such a tremendous Truth I shall use largely messages from a book “The Stewardship of the Mystery” by T. Austin Sparks. 

The Apostle Paul said in Eph.3:8,  “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ”. (Eph.3:8)

Let me read it to you from ‘The Amplified Bible’:

“To me, though I am the very least of all the saints (God’s consecrated people), this grace (favor, privilege) was granted and graciously entrusted: to proclaim to the Gentiles the unending (boundless, fathomless, incalculable, and exhaustless) riches of Christ (wealth which no human being could have searched out)”.

Introductory:

You must know by now, that what lies before us for ‘our meditation’ for the coming weeks, is of ‘very great importance’ and of ‘tremendous consequence’ to me.

I do trust that many of you, or better yet, that all of you, share my continued yearning to come to know all that is involved in those ‘unending, boundless, fathomless, incalculable, and exhaustless riches of Christ’.

‘The Apostle Paul’ also stated that “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual (given by the Holy Spirit) blessing in the heavenly realm”. (Eph.1:3)   

Let us all stand together in Prayer, that ‘the Holy Spirit’ may be pleased to lead us further and deeper into Truth, and bring us experientially into ‘the realities of this Mystery’.

The Apostle Paul had reached the last phase of his pilgrimage here on earth. 

The end of his journey is in sight. 

The course has been well-nigh run; and what a course it has been!

‘The faithful servant’, ‘the war-scarred warrior’, ‘the greatest of Christ’s missionaries’, and ‘stewards of the heavenly riches’, will soon receive “the crown of life” laid up for him.

His “laboring more abundantly” is practically over.

He gives expression to a hope that he may yet visit some of his most beloved converts (Phil.2:24).

We have no definite record in the New Testament, that this hope was realized.

He is now in imprisonment in Rome, and Luke concludes his record with the period there “in his own rented house”.
(Acts 28:30)

This man, who saw ‘the sovereignty of God’ in every vicissitute of his life, did not fail to do so in this arrival in Rome and sojourn there, so different from what he had hoped for and expected (Rom.1:15).

Disappointment and God’s Appointment.

Taking stock of his situation, he was not long in arriving at the conclusion that, in that ‘Divine sovereignty’, this would make possible the realization of another strong desire that had been in his heart, but which could not be fulfilled while on his many travels.

He had written letters, shorter or longer, in relation to some particular need and situation.

During his long journeys, when pursuing his trade to support himself and make it impossible for critics to rightly say that he lived on his converts; and by special and extraordinary experiences, such as being “caught up into the third heaven (in a vision or dream) and hearing unspeakable things” (2.Cor.12:1-4); not ommitting the time spent in the Arabian Desert; the years alone in Tarsus soon after his conversion; and a long imprisonment in Caesarea; all this gave him much time for meditation and for ‘the Lord’ to speak to him.  

In this way an immense accumulation of ‘spiritual knowledge’ became stored up in his heart.  

Being so sure, as he often said, that this “revelation” was a “stewardship” for “the Body of Christ”, he would doubtless be hoping for a time when he would have leisure and detachment enough to unburden his spirit in writing.  

We now know that such a time and opportunity just had to come, for the fruit of that has been an unspeakable blessing to the Church during these many centuries. 

Well, as we have seen, strange as the Providence may have seemed when first he looked around his apartment, and, not least, his Roman guard and chain, he soon realized that this could be that great opportunity for which he had been waiting.  

It certainly would appear that as this realization came to him, and perhaps in the long nights when visitors had gone, he became almost overwhelmed by the flow of that store of revelation.  

This we can conclude from the way and manner, as well as the substance of what he then committed to writing.

He had those churches in Asia immediately in mind (although the Lord had much greater intentions) and what he wrote was intended to be circulated among them. 

There is little doubt, however, that this overflow of heart had a special direction for that so great and spiritually influential Church at Ephesus.  

This may be of secondary importance in view of this
so-much-greater ‘Divine intention’ by this inspiration.

The Overflowing Heart.  

It is his manner that means so much as a first impression. 

The Letter to the Ephesians, is written in terms of ‘the superlative’.

Let us look at some of these ‘superlatives’: “The exceeding greatness of his power” (1:19); - “the fullness of him that fills all in all” (1:23); - “the exceeding riches of his grace” (2:7); - “the unsearchable riches of Christ” (3:8); - “the breadth and length and height and depth”, - “the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ”, - “all the fullness of God” (3:18,19); - “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (3:20); - “far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things” (4:10); - “the fullness of Christ” (4:13); - “a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (5:27).

We could certainly say that the Apostle Paul was just unable to contain his fullness.

And that applies not only to his phrases, but to his grammatical form.

He will start on a course, and then, when an extra thought comes into his mind, he will diverge and go off at a tangent, not picking up the earlier thread again until some way after.

He is too full and too eager to stop for literary 
technicalities.

The flood-gates are open, and, like a torrent, he is pouring out of this fullness so long held back.

When we come to consider the nature of his revelation we shall understand much better why he was so expressive in ‘superlatives’.

At the moment we are just registering the force of his anxiety to get out at last, what no doubt, turned out to be ‘the greatest Document ever written’.

When we say “greatest”, we, of course, do not mean in length, but in ‘intrinsic value’ and ‘content’.

This is the crown and consummate essence of Paul’s ministry.

It is the climax of his mission.

So far we have only introduced the Letter.

Its content, teaching and message will occupy our main consideration, while still remaining so vastly beyond our comprehension.

Before we take our plunge into those deeps, and never get much further than the surface, we shall have of necessity to give some attention to ‘Paul himself’, and to how ‘he’ and ‘his ministry’ are one thing.

Before doing so, let us keep in mind one or two obvious, but impressive facts.

When the Apostle Paul set himself to write this Letter, he had no idea that he was writing Holy Scripture - the Bible (in part).

His only thought and desire was to confirm and supplement that “whole counsel of God” which he “had not shunned” to declare to - and through - Ephesus and Asia Minor during the two years that he was there. (Acts 19)

It was a Letter that - in his own mind - he was writing, and that to a location and a need.

Do you think that it could ever have occurred to him that what he was writing would be read by an ever-growing number of people through nearly ‘twenty centuries’; that it would go into a world the size of which he knew nothing; the people of every race under heaven would have it translated into their own language or dialect; that it would divide Christendom world-wide into the largest opposing schools of theology and interpretation; that ‘the People of God’ in every time and realm would feed eagerly upon it?  

What a vindication of his testimony!

What a ‘justification of his sufferings’!

What an unveiling of ‘God’s sovereignty and grace’!

What an inspiration and strength this should be to any who may be ‘suffering in fellowship with Christ’, and what a proof of the truth of his own words: “Your labors are not in vain in the Lord”! (1.Cor.15:58)

Well, so much for an Introduction.

We continue next week, Lord willing!