3 For this reason I, Paul, oa prisoner for Christ Jesus pon behalf of you Gentiles—2 assuming that you have heard of qthe stewardship of rGod's grace that was given to me for you, 3 show the mystery was made known to me tby revelation, uas I have written briefly. 4 vWhen you read this, you can perceive my insight into wthe mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is1 that the Gentiles are xfellow heirs, ymembers of the same body, and zpartakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
7 aOf this gospel I was made ba minister according to the gift of cGod's grace, which was given me dby the working of his power. 8 To me, ethough I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, fto preach to the Gentiles the gunsearchable hriches of Christ, 9 and ito bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery jhidden for ages in2 God kwho created all things, 10 so that through the church the manifold lwisdom of God mmight now be made known to nthe rulers and authorities oin the heavenly places.
Pretty amazing the humility of Paul. He is chosen. He is chosen by God to communicate a special message. Yet, he is able to stay on task and not let his flesh rise up to proclaim his own special position of being chosen. I ask myself, could I do that? Could I remain humble? Am I humble?
ReplyDeleteI like how Paul lays out that we are all heirs to the throne of Christ if we believe in His gospel! It is a elite club that is easy to join with eternal benefits. -Jason
ReplyDeleteTwo phrases stuck out to me here: "for everyone" and "through the church". God's power was at work in Paul, to reveal to all God's amazing plan. The church is a critical player, with responsibility of making Him known. - Shelly
This was the verse God used to all me to full-time ministry while I was chaperoning a youth missions trip the summer after my freshman year of college. (about being able to tell people about the riches available to them in Christ.)
ReplyDeleteWe talked about how thankful we are to have been born in a time when the mystery of salvation has been revealed, that Christ has saved us and He is using all of us as part of His plan and the revealing of His plan to others.
TO us this illustrates the call we all have to our specific ministry. Paul humbled himself to the Lord's call to preach to the Gentiles, who were an ignored group of people to the Jewish people. We all have a group to whom we are supposed to preach and teach. Are we humble enough to reach out to those God has called us to? I fear that we are missing the people who probably need to experience the riches of Christ than Christians who call Jesus Lord on Sundays but ignore Him with the rest of their lives.
ReplyDeleteWe are all heirs and we are all chosen. We must be obedient and reach others as we are called to do.
ReplyDeleteIn reading this, I get the sense of what a "big deal" this revealing of the mystery was to the Gentiles. They had access to God's plan, to more than this world has to offer. It makes me think about how I share the gospel, do I really convey to those outside the church what a magnificent gift one is receiving.
ReplyDeleteKaren