FOR THIS CAUSE

Ephesians 3:1-7

Paul had just finished telling the believers in the church of Ephesus this glorious “mystery” that, because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, God had created a brand new kind of people.

Christians were no longer Jews and Gentiles.

They were made to fit together in the church of the living God.

This is a very powerful message, but it is a very difficult one for people to accept – especially in the lifetime of the Apostle Paul.

You and I have grown up with certain presumptions that make it difficult for us to see the impact of this mysterious doctrine God revealed through Paul so allow me to use an illustration I heard recently[1] to help with us get a sense of how shocking a doctrine this revelation of Paul was.

Just 150 years ago the United States of America grappled with the moral issue of slavery.

American’s had wrestled with the morality of it for a hundred years before that and those who owned slaves and used them to gain their incomes, had come up with a number of ideas to justify what they were doing.

Among Christian slaveholders there was a small number of Christians who taught that God viewed the slaves like we view our farm animals and that:

·   They had no soul

·   They could not be saved and that

God had decreed it to be this way.

Imagine that you had grown up believing that.

Imagine that everyone one you knew believed it to be true.

·   Your parents

·   Your friends

·   Your instructors in school

·   Your pastor

Imagine that all believe that the slaves are merely farm animals. They don’t have a soul, they cannot be saved.

And then imagine that you come to realize that those slaves really are people whom God loves.

What’s more, you believe you are called by the Lord to tell everyone that.

·   Your job from God is to win slaves to the Lord and to teach the Christian slave owners that those slaves who get saved are their brothers and sisters in Christ

·   You are called to tell them that there is no difference between the white slave owner and the back slave

·   You even begin to tell them that they are to unite as members of the same family and the same church.

Can you imagine how mad everyone around you would be?

Of course some would be glad that someone was finally bold enough to preach what the human heart has known all along.

But a lot of people, maybe most people, would be very angry.

·   You would lose friends

·   You might be disowned by your family

·   You could lose your job if it is somehow related to your faith

That’s what Paul is going through.

Preaching this message that God loves and wants to save both Jews and Gentiles and that God creates of the saved a new people who forget their past and become unified in a local church has rocked the world in Paul’s day.

And it has caused him no small trouble.

The Apostle Paul begins this chapter with the words, “For this cause…”

It’s because of that message Paul was a prisoner in a Roman jail, and would eventually be executed.

I want to go through verses 1-7 and address the cause of Paul’s imprisonment.

First

I. HE WAS A PRISONER BECAUSE OF HIS CALLING

Ephesians 3:1-2 (KJV)

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

Ephesians 3:7 (KJV)

Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

Look at the word “grace” in verse 2.

Paul said this grace was given to him.

You know what grace is.

You know that we are,

A. Saved by grace

Ephesians 2:8 (KJV)

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Do you remember how Paul got this gift of grace?

Acts 9:1-6 (KJV)

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Getting saved changed Paul’s life the instant it happened.

·   He was blinded

·   He was jobless and

·   He was friendless

at the first moment of salvation.

My salvation wasn’t as dramatic as Paul’s was but, for me, it changed my world.

While I was so convinced that the Bible message was true that I could not go back from it, still, it hurt me.

·   It hurt my relationship with my lost family

·   It hurt my relationship with all of my friends at the time

My salvation caused my life to take an absolutely 180 degree turn.

I am nothing like the person I would have become if I had not gotten saved.

And I am glad for that.

But it was still painful for a very long time.

He was saved by grace but then he was also

B. Serving by grace

Ephesians 3:1-2 (KJV)

For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward:

Notice that Paul said the grace of God was given him, “to you-ward.”

From the very moment of his salvation Paul was directed to reach the Gentiles.

He was a Jew by birth and he always loved and tried to win Jews to Christ but his calling was to the Gentiles.

And it was his calling that was always at the crux of his problems.

·   Going to the Gentiles was an expensive and dangerous proposition and

·   Working with the Gentiles was a misunderstood and aggravating thing among the Jews

Let me tell you, I would not trade my calling as a preacher of the Word of God for anything in this world.

·   I am so glad to be a pastor.

·   I am so glad to pastor this church.

But I don’t want you for a minute to think being a preacher has been an easy thing.

I wouldn’t wish the ministry on anyone who didn’t have the calling of God to do it because to do it without God’s grace would be a miserable way to live.

Paul was a prisoner because of his calling.

Secondly

II. HE WAS A PRISONER BECAUSE OF HIS UNDERSTANDING

Ephesians 3:3-5 (KJV)

How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

I see two things to show you here;

A. God had revealed it

Notice the words

By revelation

Vs 3

He made known to me

Vs 3

My knowledge in the mystery

Vs 4

It is now revealed

Vs 5

Paul knew this message to be true.

·   He had not made it up.

·   He wasn’t guessing.

This was the revelation of God and

It was not just he that it had been revealed to the other apostles and prophets had gotten it to.

Here is what I would like to say about this:

·   When you know the Bible, and

·   You know that it’s message is true.

·   When you know that you know it,

it captures you.

This is the reason why the world is so threatened by Christians.

·   Why they were persecuted in centuries past

·   Why they were marginalized for the last 100 years and

·   Why we are so targeted and hated right now

The world knows from experience that a Christian who knows the Word of God is unbending and unyielding.

·   He is already a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

·   He can’t be captured by anything in this world

The question I have for you is, Are you that sort of Christian?

Not only had Paul received this knowledge

B. He kept preaching it

He had written about it in some previous writing and now he was writing about it again.

He wanted these believers to understand what God had revealed to him.

Please, don’t get upset at your preacher if he keeps saying the same things over and over.

If I get excited about something God has taught me, I am going to have to try to get you excited about it too.

Paul was a prisoner because of his calling and

Paul was a prisoner because of his understanding

Finally

III. HE WAS A PRISONER BECAUSE OF HIS MESSAGE

Ephesians 3:6 (KJV)

That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

I began the message with the illustration going back to slavery.

The issue in Paul’s day has been somewhat settled

Although I am distressed to see Christians entertaining the idea of fellowshipping in Messianic Jewish Synagogues and congregations instead of being faithful to a local Baptist church.

And the issue of slavery has been settled

Although there is still so much division among those who are the children of slave owners and the children of slaves.[2]

My question is,

“Who is it that isn’t welcome in your spiritual family?”

You see that is where the rubber meets the road for you and me.

Maybe we don’t mind acknowledging that this person or that person is a “fellowheir” that they are saved and that, when they get cleaned up in heaven, they will share in fellowship with Christ with you.

But what about “of the same body”?

Is there someone:

·   You cannot choose to love?

·   You will not choose to accept?

·   You have not chosen to forgive?

Conclusion

The whole point of the book of Ephesians is the doctrine of the church.

·   Its head is Jesus

·   Its members are saved by grace and

·   Its unity is mysterious and marvelous

Be a part of the unity.

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[1] https://player.fm/series/soteriology-101-former-calvinistic-professor-discusses-doctrines-of-salvation/is-unconditional-election-uniquely-calvinistic

[2] It has only been in my years as a preacher I have heard of a pastor who was nearly fired from his church because he baptized a black child and a white child in the same baptistery on the same day. 

A contemporary of mine worked as an assistant pastor in a Mississippi church just after college. When he gave a tract to the lady behind the counter and the grocery store and invited her to come to church she “educated” him that she was black and would not be welcome in that church. When he confirmed it to be the truth, he resigned from the church to find a new place to serve the Lord. It happened to be in the Pacific Northwest, where I came to know him.

PRACTICAL HAPPINESS

Psalms 119:1-2 (KJV)

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

I want to start out this message by addressing a bit about the context and background of Psalm 119.

It happens that I read the Psalm as a part of my daily visits with God this last week.

The Psalm is remarkable for at least three reasons:

Its length 

At 176 verses, it is not only the longest Psalm but also the longest chapter in the Bible.

Its construction 

Sometimes called the “Alphabetical Psalm” it is divided into twenty-two equal parts, each part corresponding to the twenty-two letters in the Hebrew alphabet.

Each division has eight verses. Each verse in the division begins with the corresponding Hebrew letter.

Its subject

The Word of God is the obvious subject of the Psalm. Only one or two verses out of the 176 here do not include something concerning the Word of God.

I have a comment or two I would like to make about these three remarkable features of the Psalm…

Regarding the first, its length

It still only takes five or ten minutes to read. Stop making excuses for not reading the Bible.

You can read it, if you decide to do so.

Regarding its construction

The Bible as a whole is a not only supernatural it is fascinating. There is something in it for every interest:

• • History
• • Science
• • Relationships
• • Romance
• • Poetry
• • Prophecy
• • Military
• • Intrigue
• • Philosophy (Wisdom)

The Bible was written by more than 40 different penman over the course of more than 1400 years and yet there is a continuity in it that points to only one author, God, the Holy Spirit.

The various penman, of course, had differing 

• • Backgrounds
• • Levels of education and
• • Personalities

All of which comes out in their workmanship.

And so this Psalmist, presumably King David, wrote the perfect Word of God, and he did it with

• • Creativity
• • Style
• • Poetry and
• • Imagination

Our sovereign God has done a beautiful feat in giving to us what is promised to be “by inspiration of God” and at the same time, bears the marks of the human instrumentality involved.

It speaks to the age-old debate having to do with the sovereignty of God versus the free will of man.

• • Does God control everything? or
• • Does man have the right to make his own choices?

The answer, quite simply is, “Yes.”

It’s beyond us to understand but it is nevertheless the truth of the Bible that God controls everything while, at the same time, giving us free will.

Regarding its subject, the Bible

Do you not find it captivating, as I do, that the longest chapter of the Bible has as its subject, the Bible?

I want to be careful not to spoil my outline for this message right here, but I do want to remind you that God thinks this book is important.

I suggest we would all be better off if we did too.

Look again with me at, Psalms 119:1-2 (KJV)

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

The word blessed is a word that means happy. There are four qualifiers for this blessedness:

• • Undefiled in the way
• • Walk in the law of the Lord
• • Keep His testimonies and
• • Seek Him with a whole heart

For the sake of this message I am going to stick primarily with the first for the four,

Blessed are the undefiled in the way….

Let’s begin with

I. A VERY PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Is there anyone who would honestly question this?

The person who is undefiled, 

• • Who has no crime against him
• • Who isn’t hiding something terrible from those who know him
• • Who is, so far as legal and moral issues are concerned, clean

That person is a much more blessed and happy person than the one who has some defilement.

When I was a kid I was very often left in charge of my brother and two sisters.

Being the oldest, it seemed to me that I should be able to “boss them around” when mom and dad were not home.

One house we lived in was on the side of Jump Off Joe, in Kennewick. Our driveway was a dirt road over one mile long. When mom and dad turned on to the drive, we could see the dust cloud from the living room window and we knew they would be home in a matter of minutes.

Once in a while we would be prepared for their homecoming.

• • We would have cleaned the house
• • We would have put some flowers on the table for mom
• • We would have finished the chores for dad

That cloud of dust was then, a happy symbol of the welcome mom and dad were about to receive.

More often than not, the dirt cloud was a symbol of something much less joyful.

• • One time we broke the living room lamp while we were fighting
• • One time we sneaked into the Christmas presents thinking we would be able to re-wrap them so they couldn’t tell we had done it
• • One time we hid an injured crow in my sisters’ bedroom closet
• • One time we set the wheat field the house was in the middle of on fire

When mom and dad came home to undefiled children, we were very happy kids.

Most of the time we weren’t so happy when they came home.

So this isn’t a difficult truth to get hold of is it?

Every one of us knows that we are going to be happiest whenever we have no strikes against us.

The problem is that it isn’t very often that we have no strikes against us.

Romans 3:23 (KJV) says

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The Bible goes on further to say

Romans 3:10-12 (KJV)

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, but we are all defiled.

To be sure, 

• • Some of us appear to be more defiled than others
• • Some of us are suffering more obvious consequences than others

But every one of us come short of the glory of God.

That brings me then to my second point, which is

II. A VERY BIBLICAL CURE

I said that this Psalm is all about the Word of God.

It is filled with nuggets of wisdom that will help us out if we will but pick them up and claim them as our own.

For instance

Psalms 119:165 (KJV)

Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

Psalms 119:18 (KJV)

Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

Psalms 119:99-100 (KJV)

I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

I would love to take the time to develop the important lessons in these verses but

But most relevant to our subject this morning are:

Psalms 119:9 (KJV)

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

And

Psalms 119:11 (KJV)

Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

Blessed are the undefiled in the way, but none of us are undefiled so what can we do?

The Psalmist put it this way,

Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

I had a conversation with Brother Nelson the other day. He made this comment, “One of the things we quickly learn in the HOPE classes is that, if we don’t stay in the Word of God, we will go right back to where we were when we started.”

I got to thinking about that. 

That’s not only true of people who have what we call addictions. That’s true of all of us.

I know people who were very faithful and committed to the things of God who are completely backslidden, and it started when they got out of the Bible.

I know people who used to be pastors who live as wickedly as the worst atheist you can think of – and it started when they got out of the Bible.

But let me just tell you, 

• • It is not just the Bible. 
• • It’s not just doing things the Bible says to do.

This book cleanses us of sin because this book points us to Jesus Christ.

1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness

You see, “He is faithful and just.”

Don’t turn you relationship with Christ into a religion by simply “doing” Bible” 

• • Study
• • Memory and
• • Reading

Take time in the Word of God to: 

• • Read it
• • Study it and
• • Remember it

in order to grow a better and closer relationship and walk with the Lord.

I remind you now of Psalm 119:2

Blessed are they that keep His testimonies and that seek Him with the whole heart.

Let me then move on to one last heading,

III. A VERY PROMISING FUTURE

Blessed

Can you think of anything negative about being happy?

I realize there is a kind of happiness that is based on the wrong stimuli.

From Webster’s 1828 dictionary I found this list of definitions for happy or happiness:

• • Success
• • Enjoyment of agreeable sensation
• • Enjoying the gratification of desires
• • Peace of mind
• • In the favor of God
• • Free from pain both in body and mind
• • Prosperous
• • Harmonious

My plan isn’t to try to expound on any of them but to simply illustrate that there is no drawback, no negative, unpleasant consequence to being genuinely happy.

Conclusion

That leads me to end this message with the question, Why would anyone not seek the Lord with the whole heart?

I can only think of two reasons:

First, because the devil has deceived them so that they cannot see that this is where true happiness is to be found.

Eve wanted happiness did she not?

She looked at the fruit and saw that it was:

• • Good for food
• • Pleasant to the eyes and
• • Desired to make one wise

All of those seem like happy things. But God never said that we are blessed by having: 

• Good food, 
• Eye pleasing things and 
• Worldly wisdom

Eve just got tricked. She was deceived. The serpent blinded her from the source of real happiness

The second reason is because they become hardened from the source of happiness.

Adam knew exactly what he was doing when he ate the fruit. Eve had already disobeyed. Certainly the consequence of that disobedience had begun its effect.

The Bible says Eve was deceived but Adam transgressed. He willingly choose to disobey God, I think for the sake of Eve.

I think there are only two reasons why a person would not embrace the blessing of God in their lives

• Either they can’t see where that blessing comes from – and I have tried to correct that today.
• Or else they can see and choose the goods of the world instead of the blessing of God. 

I am praying today 

• That God would remove the blindness from someone who has never seen where blessing comes from and
• That someone’s heart would be softened so they choose God’s blessing over the things the world has offered in its stead.