PT-1 "The Purpose of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:10-11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/28/2019 9:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “The Purpose of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Ephesians 3:10-11

 

            Message of the verses:  “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. 11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord,”

 

            We can see the purpose of the mystery in verse ten, and the authorities in the heavenly places according to John MacArthur refers to angels. He goes on to say that angels are also referred to in Ephesians 1:21 and Colossians 1:16.  Then in Ephesians 6:12 we will see Paul use similar words as he writes there about fallen angels.  Chapter six of Ephesians is one I am looking forward to studying again as it contains the believer’s spiritual armor and in that section as noted there are fallen angels that are mentioned.  MacArthur writes that “God has brought the church into being for the purpose of manifesting His great wisdom before the angels, both holy and unholy.  The New Testament emphasis is on the holy angels’ concern with the church, but it is obvious that the fallen angels can also to some extent see what is going on, through they have no desire or capacity for praise.”

 

            In verse eleven we can see that all of this mystery that we have been talking about for some time no will bring glory to the Lord as it was all in “accordance with the eternal purposes which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Let us look at Colossians 1:16 which will help us to better understand the truth of it and is the ultimate purpose of God to bring glory to Himself:  “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things have been created through Him and for Him.”   1/28/2019 9:52 AM  1/28/2019 12:52 PM

 

            If one would ask you the question “Why does the Church Exist?”   Some may think that it exists to evangelize the world in order for souls to be saved, and although that is a good reason that is not the correct answer.  The answer comes from the Westminster shorter catechism which states “Man’s chief ends is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”  So that means that this is what the purpose of the church is.  In order to better understand this answer one has to understand God, and to understand God one must study His attributes.  We are created by God and so that means that we owe everything we have to God, and so certainly as believers we are to glorify God in all that we do.  John MacArthur writes “The supreme purpose of the church, as Paul makes explicit here, is to glorify God by manifesting His ‘wisdom’ before the angels, who can then offer greater praise to God.  The purpose of the universe is to give glory to God, and that will be its ultimate reality after all evil is conquered and destroyed.  Even now, ‘The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands’ (Ps. 19:1).  The church is not an end to itself, but a means to an end, the end of glorifying God.  The real drama of redemption can only be understood when we realize that the glory of God is the supreme goal of creation.  Holy angels are especially made and confirmed in purity and praise as creatures who will forever give God glory (Ps. 148:2; Heb. 1:6), and the redemption of fallen men enriches their praise.  Redeemed people, then, are to enhance angelic praise and some day in heaven to join in it (Rev. 4:8-11; 5:8-14; 7:9-12; 14:1-3; 10:1-8).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I find this extremely interesting as far as looking at the angels in this section.  I did not realize that Paul was writing about angels when he writes about “the authorities in heavenly places,” as I don’t think I actually knew before what he was writing about.  As a believer I can then enhance angelic praise to the Lord.  This is some great news.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will give glory to Himself as He answers the man new prayer requests that are not on my spiritual plate.

 

Today’s quote from Winston Churchill:  “Success is never final; failure is never fatal; it is courage that counts.”

 

Scripture reference to this quote in our next SD.

 

1/28/2019 1:16 PM

 

PT-4 "The Preaching of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:7-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/27/2019 1:31 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-4 “The Preaching of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:7-9

 

            Message of the verses:  7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 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;”

 

            I mentioned yesterday that this SD will be very short because of the way my Sunday’s go, and today was even a bit more stressful as I woke up to 3 inches of snow and had to get out there early to get the driveway cleared out along with my sidewalks.

 

            We will be looking at verse nine in this SD and in that verse we see the word “administration” in it and the Greek word for that is “oikonomia” a word that we have already looked at as it was translated “stewardship” in verse two.  The following is first of all how many times this Greek word is translated “dispensation” and then “stewardship” in the KJV of the Bible, and then we see the meaning of the word after that.

“AV-dispensation 4, stewardship 3; 7

1) the management of a household or of household affairs

1a) specifically, the management, oversight, administration, of other’s property

1b) the office of a manager or overseer, stewardship

1c) administration, dispensation”

 

            John MacArthur writes “Paul is saying, in effect, ‘I am not only called in the vertical area to preach the unfathomable riches of Christ, but in the horizontal area to teach about the ‘administration,’ the stewardship or dispensation, of the mystery of the church age.’  The first area deals with our relationship to God and the second with our daily living and our ministry to each other as fellow believers.”

 

            Now I have for a long time viewed the cross of Christ having these two areas that deal with our relationship with God as the vertical part of the cross and our relationship with fellow believers as the horizontal part of the cross.  This, to me, also goes along with the two greatest commandments that are mentioned by Jesus in the gospels:  ““You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depends all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

            It was the mission of Paul to bring to light, or we could say reveal, the full expression of the operation of this great truth of both the Gentiles and the Jews as being one, and this truth hidden for so very long in the mind of God the Creator, but now we can see it.

 

Verse related to yesterday’s quote:  “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”  (Isaiah 30:15).

 

1/27/2019 1:51 PM

PT-3 "The Preaching of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:7-19)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/26/2019 7:59 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                   Focus:  PT-3 “The Preaching of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:7-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 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;”

 

            As Paul talks about the ministry that God had given to him by “the gift of God’s grace.  To me, the very least of all the saints” and he goes on to say, “this grace was given.”  John MacArthur comments on the term “very least” as he writes “The term ‘very least’ is a comparative, indicating less than the least.  That was not mock humility but his honest assessment of himself.  Because he had such an unusually clear comprehension of God’s righteousness, he also had an unusually clear understand of how far short he himself fell on that righteousness.  Paul claimed no second work of grace by which he was perfected in holiness, love, or anything else.  To the end of his life he considered himself the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) and was overwhelmed by his sense of unworthiness.  That attitude does not limit a man’s service but rather is the key to his usefulness (cf. Gideon in Judges 6:15-16 and Isaiah in Isa. 6:1-9).”

 

            Paul was given this grace from God in order “to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.”  This includes all His truths and all His blessings, and all that He is and has.  It is the job of Pastors to teach believers all that they have in Christ so they can understand the riches that they have in Christ.  We may not be rich in earthly things but all believers are rich in Christ and that is what matters.  John MacArthur writes “We have riches beyond measure in the One of whom it was said ‘in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge’ (Col. 2:3) and in the One in whom we have ‘everything pertaining to life and godliness’ (2 Peter. 1:3).”

 

            Here is a partial list of these riches:  1) “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?  2) Rom. 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!”  3) Eph. 2:4 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us.”  4)  “Eph. 3:16 “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man.”  5) 1 Tim. 6:17 “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.”  6) Col. 2:2 “that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself.”  7) Col. 3:16 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”  8) Hebrews 11:26 “considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.”  9) Col. 2:10 “and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.”

 

            In this final paragraph of this SD I will quote from John MacArthur as he gives his readers a warning:

 

“Simply knowing about the ‘riches of Christ’ is not enough, however.  When we fall into sin and disobedience we forfeit the present blessing of those riches, just as did the fleshly, disobedient Corinthian believers.  ‘You are already filled, ‘Paul told them sarcastically.  ‘You have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and I would indeed that you have become kings so that we also might reign with you’ (1 Cor. 4:8).  Like the Laodiceans, they thought they were rich and in need of nothing, not realizing that they were really ‘wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked’ (Rev. 3:17).”

 

            Our next SD will be very short as I usually do not write much on Sunday’s as I have many things to do to get ready to teach my Sunday school class, so I caution you it will be very short.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Having a perspective on the riches that I have in Christ, at times, is overwhelming to me as it is hard to believe that I am that rich in Christ.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will give me greater insight into the riches that I have in Christ.

 

Today’s quote from Thomas Carlyle:  “Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.” 

 

I will give the Scripture associated to this quote in our next SD.

 

1/26/2019 8:40 AM

PT-2 "The Preaching of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:7-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/25/2019 11:32 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-2 “The Preaching of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  Ephesians 3:7-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 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;”

 

            As we continue to talk about “mystery” I can’t help but think of one of my favorite verses:  “"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 (Deu. 29:19).”  ““The LORD our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that He has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions (Deut. 29:29 NLT),”

 

            One of the things that we can take note of in this section is that God is the One who called Paul to preach to the Gentiles, and in our churches today, the ones where the Word of God is preached each day by Pastors who are truly born-again believers, that God has called them to do this.  When the church began God used the eleven apostles to preach the Word of God, and as the early church began to grow there were men who had been saved through the apostle’s ministry who were called by the Lord to continue to preach the Word of God.  Later on God called Paul in order to have him preach the gospel to the Gentiles.  Now as the years went by there were no more apostles, as John was probably the last to die at the end of the fist century, and so God continued to call men to preach the Word in the churches, and so it goes on today as it is God who calls men to become preachers in the churches today.  I want to say that what I am talking about here are true born-again Pastors, whose qualifications are found in the letters that Paul wrote to men that were preachers in the early church, men like Timothy and Titus.  Now here is what has happened in the church, not only in our day, but throughout the history of the church, and that is that there are many people in the church today who were not called by the Lord to preach and to teach and John MacArthur writes to this issue:  “Any person in the ministry of the church whom God has not appointed is a usurper.  No matter how seemingly good his intentions, he can do nothing but harm the work of the Lord and to the Lord’s people.  Jeremiah speaks to this matter when he writes the Lord’s word:  ‘I did not send these prophets, but they ran.  I did not speak to them, but they prophesied…I did not send them or command them’ (Jer. 23:21, 32).  No man should enter the ministry unless he is absolutely certain of the Lord’s calling.”  I have to admit that in my life as a born-again believer in Jesus Christ that I have sat under three wonderful Pastors that I have no doubt have been called by God to preach His Word to those in the congregations that God has given to them.  I have also sat under two Pastors who I am not sure that God called them to the ministry.  My thoughts are that they could have been listening in on someone elses conversation and though that God was speaking to them.

 

            I mention the Pastoral letters and so I want to look at 1 Timothy 3:1-7 “1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer, it is a fine work he desires to do. 2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. 4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity 5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?), 6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.”  I can thankfully say that in all of my years as a believer in Jesus Christ, which will be 45 years tomorrow, that the three Pastors that I have set under fit what Paul is writing to Timothy says they should be.  The other two, as mentioned, I’m not sure of their calling, but am sure they did not follow what these qualifications listed above.

 

            Perhaps two of the things that can cause Pastors to fail in today’s world are the constant bombarding of sex related issues.  Another thing is pride as they forget that they are stewards of God and began to think of themselves as being able to do the ministry on their own.

 

            We will, Lord willing, continue to look at these verses in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  To keep on fighting the spiritual battle as I continues to go on for me and for every believer, to rely on the Word of God and the God of the Word to give me victory.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust that the Lord will teach me to rely on “truth” and not on my emotions, and to teach me the truths from Rom. 12:3.

 

Verse related to yesterday’s quotation.  

 

James 1:17 “Every Good and every perfect Gift is from Above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

 

The following comes from my SD dated 08:28-2003 and is from the help of Warren Wiersbe:  “If I understand what Dr. Wiersbe says about this verse it could start out something like this:  Every gift that God gives us is perfect, and the way that He gives it to us is perfect, and He keeps on giving us gifts all of the time, even when we do not realize that He is giving them to us, and God is not like the moving of the planets and stars, for He never changes because He cannot change for worse because He is holy, and He cannot change for better because He is perfect.

 

1/25/2019 12:13 PM

 

PT-1 "The Preaching of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:7-9)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/24/2019 10:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                    Focus:  PT-1 “The Preaching of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:7-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. 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 is stating here that it was God who called him to give out the gospel to the Gentiles, and in the tenth chapter of the book of Romans, in which Paul will quote from Isaiah 52:7 he wrote the following “14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!" 16 However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, "LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?’”  We see here that not all who hear the gospel will respond to it in order to become a true believer in Jesus Christ, but at least they heard the gospel, for if they had not heard it then there would have been no chance for them to respond to it.  Now you may be asking the question “What about the heathens who have never heard of Jesus Christ?”  Psalm 19 gives us some answers to that age old question, for people in places who have never heard of Jesus Christ are without excuse for they can look at the stars and the sun and moon in the skies and know that these had to be created, and thus began to seek out who this One was who did all of this.  I have heard that if a person is seeking light, that is the light of who God really is then God will give them more light.  I have mentioned a story from a book entitled “The God who Hung on the Cross,” and in one of the many stories found in this book there was a woman in Cambodia who only heard that there was a God who hung on the cross.  The communists came to her village to kill all the people from her village.  They made them dig their own graves and then stand around them waiting to be killed.  This woman who only heard of the God who hung on the cross cried out to Him, not really knowing if He was real or not.  As the time past by and people began to open their eyes the enemies were nowhere to be found.  A few years past when some missionaries came to their village and this brave woman asked the missionaries “What took you so long.”  She only had a little light but the Lord honored it and sent people there to tell her the truth of the gospel and so she became a believer.

 

            Paul tells the Ephesians that he was “a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace” and this is not only true of Paul, but true of all who believe in Jesus Christ as all people can tell others what it means to become a believer in Jesus Christ because of how He had changed their life. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “Minister’ is from diakonos, the basis meaning of which is servant,in particular a servant who waits on tables.  It later came to refer to servants in general.  By definition, a servant is one who acts on the commands of others, who recognizes and submits to a higher power.  His primary responsibility is to do what he is told to do.  Paul’s single responsibility was to faithfully be a servant, ‘according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to [him] according to the working of His power.”  Let us look at 1 Corinthians 3:5 to help us better understand this term “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one (1 Cor. 3:5).”  As we look at this we can understand that it is the Lord who is the power behind the servant.  Paul writes the following to the Colossians “For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me (Col. 1:29).” 

 

            To make this clear Paul emphasizes the fact that it was not him who made himself a minister, but writes that he “was made a minister.”  I suppose that you have to remember Paul’s history before the Lord called him on the road to Damascus as seen in the ninth chapter of the book of Acts.  Paul was seeking out believers to kill them when God reached down to save him.  “10 Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias." And he said, "Here I am, Lord." 11 And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, 12 and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight." 13 But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; 14 and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." 15 But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; 16 for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake’ (Acts 9:10-16).”  This story shows us that God had chosen Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles and that is why Paul states that he “was made a minister” as it had nothing to do with him, for surely he was not seeking to do this, but was chosen to do this ministering to the Gentiles.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life:  I have to say that I was not out trying to destroy any Christians when God called me 45 years ago this coming Saturday, but I was certainly gone in the wrong direction.  God has given me a love for His Word and a desire to tell others about the God who saved me, and that is one of the biggest reasons that I write these blogs.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them (Eph. 2:10).”

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To continue to learn about being humble, and to stand on the truth and not on my emotions.

 

Today’s Quote:  “Glory not in wealth if you have it, nor in friends because they are powerful, but in God who gives all things, and above all desires to give you Himself.”  (Thomas A. Kempis)

 

Scripture that goes along with this quote in our next SD.

 

1/24/2019 11:28 AM

PT-3 "The Plan for the Mystery" (Eph. 3:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/23/2019 9:24 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-3 “The Plan for the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:5-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “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; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,”

 

            In verse six we see that Paul states “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs,” and as mentioned in an earlier SD, Paul began to pray as seen in verse one, but then he decided to go back over the mystery that he had already spoken about which is exactly what this section of verse six states, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs with all the things that the Jews have.  Paul wrote the following to the Galatians in 3:29 “And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”  Now the Jews were physically descendants of Abraham, but not all were spiritual descendants of Abraham.  All of this is explained in the book of Galatians.  Believers, both Jews and Gentiles are spiritually descendants of Abraham. 

 

            Paul goes on to write that the Gentiles are also now “fellow members of the body.”  We have mentioned that one of the ways that the church is described in the New Testament is that of a body, and so when a Gentile believes in Jesus Christ they become part of the body of Christ, they are “joint heirs” and have the same benefits as Jews.  The church is “one body” the body of Christ, and so it makes no difference as to whether you are a Jew or a Gentile when you become a believer you are one in Christ.

 

            John MacArthur writes “In addition to having the same legal and family status, Gentiles also are ‘fellow partakers of the promise in Christ through the gospel.’  That is not so much a third status as it is a summary of the other two.  All Christians, regardless of their status or position before being saved, are now ‘fellow partakers’ of everything that pertains to ‘Christ through the Gospel—which is everything that pertains to Christ.  The essence of the ‘gospel’ is that, through faith in Jesus Christ, believers are made everything He is and given everything He has.”  The phrase ‘the mystery of Christ’ (v. 4) is also used in Col. 4:3 as the very essence of Paul’s message.  It carries the truth of Col. 1:27 that Christ is in believing Gentiles as well as believing Jews as ‘the hope of glory’ for both.  It also carries the truth of Colossians 2:2, that the mystery is ‘Christ Himself,’ in whom believers have everything (v.3).  So the mystery is fully understood to be Jew and Gentile in Christ—Christ in Jew and Gentile, so that there is the intimate shared union of eternal life as they both become immersed in the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 2:20).  God predestines every believer ‘to become conformed to the image of His Son’ (Rom. 8:29).  This is the answer to the prayer our Lord recorded in John 17:20-23 ‘20 "I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 "The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.’”

 

            This prayer in John 17 has been called the “Holy of Holies” of the New Testament.  I had the privilege to teach through this prayer in our Sunday school class a couple of years ago and now to see it in this light of being a fulfillment of this great mystery sheds even greater light on it. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I’m thankful that I am in Christ and have the things that He has, and it is my desire to be closer to Him as I go through life on this earth, praying each day that the Lord will come in the Rapture to take us all home to be with Him.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord to teach me the truths of Romans 12:3, so that I can serve Him better, giving all the glory to Him.

 

Verse from yesterday’s quote:  “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good” (Proverbs 15:3).

 

1/23/2019 9:56 AM

PT-3 "The Prisoner of the Mystery" (Eph. 3:1-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/19/2019 10:43 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-3 “The Prisoner of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:1-4

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 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,”

 

            We have mentioned that there is a parenthesis which begins with the words found in verse two and goes all the way to verse thirteen, and this was to emphasize his divine authority for this teaching.  John MacArthur writes “The Greek first-class conditional clause indicates that the condition (‘if indeed you have heard…’) is assumed to be true.  Paul is therefore saying, ‘As I am sure you have already heard…’”

 

            What Paul is saying that they heard was “the stewardship of God’s grace which was given” to Paul on behalf of those he is writing too, the Gentiles.  MacArthur writes “oikonomia (stewardship) primarily referred to the management of a household, business, or other concern on behalf of someone else.  A steward was a responsible for taking care of that which belonged to someone else.  He supervised such things as buying, selling, bookkeeping, planting, harvesting, storing, the preparation of meals, the assignment of duties to slaves, and whatever else needed to be done.”  I want to quote verse two in from the KJV of the Bible to make a point:  “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward.”  You see that the word “oikonomia” is translated as “dispensation” in the KJV of the Bible.  As I was listening to the sermon from John MacArthur on these verses he explained the use of this word and while preaching through the book of Ephesians he was using the KJV of the Bible as later on he would change to the NASB in his sermons.  If you have ever read the Schofield Study Bible you will see that he speaks of different dispensations throughout the Bible.  For instance the first dispensation, according to him would be the age of innocence which happened after God had created Adam and Eve, and before their fall.  What we see by using this word “oikonomia” and translating it as “stewardship” is that Adam and Eve had the stewardship of taking care of God’s creation of the earth.  Today in the church age we could say it is the dispensation of grace, and during the millennial kingdom the dispensation will be when Christ rules the earth from David’s throne in Jerusalem.    Paul did not ask for the ministry that he had, as God gave it to him “12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, 13a even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor.”  15 But I have written very boldly to you on some points so as to remind you again, because of the grace that was given me from God, 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles may become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:15-16).”  Gal. 2:9 “and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”  It was by God’s grace that Paul was given this stewardship of God’s grace.  In 1 Corinthians 9:16-17 we read that Paul articulates the sense of divine compulsion behind the ministry that God had given to him.  “16 For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel. 17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.”  The following is from the Phillips paraphrased version including verse 18 “16 For I take no special pride in the fact that I preach the gospel. I feel compelled to do so; I should be utterly miserable if I failed to preach it. 17 If I do this work because I choose to do so then I am entitled to a reward. But if it is no choice of mine, but a sacred responsibility put upon me, 18 what can I expect in the way of reward? This, that when I preach the gospel, I can make it absolutely free of charge, and need not claim what is my rightful due as a preacher.” 

 

            John MacArthur puts this truth that Paul is writing about into practical terms for all who are believers, and with this quote we will end this SD.

 

“Every believer is a steward of the calling, spiritual gifts, opportunities, skills, knowledge, and every other blessing he has from the Lord.  Everything we have belongs to the Lord, and we are therefore entrusted as stewards to manage our lives and everything we possess in behalf of the One to whom they belong.  We are faithful stewards when we use what we have to minister to those within the family of God and witness to those who are without.  ‘As each one has received a special gift,’ Peter admonishes us, ‘employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God’ (1 Peter 4:10).”

 

         I want to say one more thing and that is that the explanation of “Spiritual Gifts” are found in 1 Cor. 12; Romans 12; Ephesians 4; and 1 Peter 4, so that helps us understand why Peter wrote what he wrote in chapter four of 1 Peter.

 

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Ahab and Jezebel” (1 Kings 21:4-5).

 

Today’s Bible question:  “What is the longest verse in the Bible?”

 

Answer in our next SD.

 

I want to say that this question for today which is to be answered in tomorrow’s SD will be the last one.  We will then begin by giving a quote from a “famous” person and then on the next day give the verse or verses to help understand the quote, or perhaps where it comes from.  I think this will be something helpful for all of us.

 

1/19/2019 11:29 AM

PT-2 "The Plan for the Ministry" (Eph. 3:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/22/2019 9:45 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                           Focus:  PT-2 “The Plan for the Ministry”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:5-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “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; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,”

 

            We were talking about some of the clues that are found in the OT that speak of the church age, and yet these clues were never enough for any of the prophets or the priests to understand that there would be a church age.  I have heard it said that if you look at the mystery of the church age it would be like looking at two great mountains, the first could be looked at as the Old Testament and then the second could be looked at as the coming kingdom of Israel.  However when you get to the top of the first mountain you will see a great valley between the two mountains, and that valley is the church age.  I suppose that when the church age began in Acts chapter two that the Jews, including Peter, did not even at that time see that God was going to include Gentiles to be a part of the church.  It took a great miracle from the Lord to get Peter to go and to talk to Cornelius to tell he and his family how they can be saved.  I suppose that it is difficult for us to understand the prejudice that went on between the Jews and Gentiles of that day.  However as we look at similar prejudices today we can probably get an idea of how this was going in back then.

 

            John MacArthur writes “That truth ‘has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the spirit.  The Greek behind ‘has…been revealed’ is in the aorist tense, which refers to specific acts or events.  Coupled with ‘now,’ it here indicates the present immediacy of the revelation, which was given exclusively to New Testament holy ‘apostles and prophets,’ and not to any other persons before or after them.  These men were the instruments of writing Scripture, and 1 John 1:1-3 describes their unique function.  The last time they met was at the Jerusalem Council, and the man who officiated there (James, the half brother of Jesus; see Acts 15:13) was not an apostle.  They were soon scattered and died, but not before the revelation was complete.  They are referred to in Ephesians 2:20 and 4:11, but only here are they called ‘holy,’ to affirm that they were fit for such revelation and were authentic.”

 

            There is one more quote needed to help us understand things from these verses:  “Some have noted that the personal pronoun (autou, ‘His’) is linked with ‘apostles’ and that there is no such pronoun with ‘prophets.’  This would be an emphasis on both the primacy and chronological priority of the ‘apostles’ over the ‘prophets’ who followed them.  The distinction will be treated in connection with the discussion of 4:11.”  (I hope that I will remember all of this when we get to Ephesians 4:11.)

 

            Paul then gets specific as he writes “that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  Notice in the NASB that the words “be specific” are in italics showing that these words were not in the original text but were added to make the text more understandable.  

 

            I suppose that if we were Jews in the first century and became a part of the early church such as was seen in Acts chapters 2-9 that we would also have a hard time understanding that Gentiles were brought into the church solely by the grace of God.  We have gone over some of the verses found in the Old Testament showing that God was going to bless the Gentiles, and I have to say something that I have said before and that is that the children of Israel missed the mark when it came to evangelism as they were suppose to tell Gentiles that they too needed to have faith in the God of Israel.  A couple of examples where Gentile women became believers in God are Rahab, and also Ruth, and Ruth is in the blood line of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I have to also say that there are people today who are a part of the church who want nothing to do with evangelizing the Jews, and this is just as wrong as the Jews did in OT times. 

           

            John MacArthur speaks of having both Jews and Gentiles in one body as was the spiritual “equivalent saying that lepers were no longer to be isolated, that they were now perfectly free to intermingle and associate with everyone else as normal members of society.  In the minds of most Jews, their spiritual separation from Gentiles was so absolute and so right that the thought of total equality before God was inconceivable and little short of blasphemy.”

 

            We will talk more about this in our next SD.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to not have any problem in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with any people group, to tell them that God loves them and desires for them to be saved.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To trust the Lord to teach me the truths of Romans 12:3, and to remember that truth does not always go along with emotions, but truth is always truth.

 

Quote from E. M. Bounds today and see if you can figure out the Scripture that goes along with the quote.

 

“God regards the personal purity of the man more than He regards any sacrifice or any ceremony.”

 

Scripture given in our next SD

 

1/22/2019 10:37 AM  

PT-1 "The Plan of the Mystery" (Eph. 5:5-6)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/21/2019 9:37 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                             Focus:  PT-1 “The Plan of the Mystery”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 3:5-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “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; 6 to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel,”

 

            We can see from verse five that Paul defines what the general meaning of the mystery is as it is used in the New Testament.  Then in verse six Paul identifies the particular mystery he is explaining to the Ephesians and those who will read this letter.

 

            John MacArthur uses a word that I was not familiar with, “antecedent” and as I looked up some synonyms for this word I found among others “forerunner,” and “ancestor.”  He writes “The antecedent of ‘which’ is ‘the mystery of Christ,’ about which the apostle had been given special revelation and insight (vv. 3-4).  ‘In other generations’ this mystery ‘was not made known to the sons of men.  Sons of men’ refers to mankind in general, not just to God’s chosen people, Israel.”  So we can say that before the church age no one knew anything, but perhaps glimpse of the truth that Paul is writing about here.  We have to remember that for a time of perhaps years, that Paul was along in Arabia with the Spirit of the Lord who taught him many things which we could conclude as mysteries.  15 But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus (Gal. 1:15-17).”    Now as one looks at some Old Testament revelation that came from the prophets, we as believers now can only understand the meaning of it in light of what is taught in the New Testament.  “39 And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect (Hebrews 11:39-40).”  “10 As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, 11 seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven-things into which angels long to look (1 Peter 1:10-12).”

 

            One of the verses found in the Old Testament which I have to say is one of my favorites is found in Genesis 12:1-3 “1 Now the LORD said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2  And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing; 3  And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.’”   As I focus in on the highlighted portion of verse three it would be fair to say that we would not really understand how God was going to bless the Gentiles if it were not for the fact that Jesus came to earth to die for the sins of all who would accept Him, and then begin the church age as seen in the book of Acts along with other NT books.  Paul reveals this mystery in Ephesians and other letters that he wrote. 

 

            There are other OT writings such as Isaiah 49:6 which says “I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth,” and this could not be fully explained until it was explained by Paul to mean the offering of the gospel of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) to the Gentiles as well as the Jews which is seen in Acts 13:46-47 “46  Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47 “For so the Lord has commanded us, ’I HAVE PLACED YOU AS A LIGHT FOR THE GENTILES, THAT YOU MAY BRING SALVATION TO THE END OF THE EARTH.’"”

 

            I have spoken to some miss-guided people who claim that the church began in the Garden of Eden, and the reason that they say this has to do with anti-Semitism, for they go on to say that all of the promises that God gave to the Jews were forfeited because “The Jews blew it” and so those promises were give to the church.  Well the only ones who blew it are the ones who believe this heresy.  God never changes and so when He gave the promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and then to David they were what is called an unconditional covenant, and because one of God’s attributes is being Immutable, meaning that He can never change, those promises are still in effect and will be fulfilled in God’s timing.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful that God never changes because if He did, for one thing He would cease to be God, and for another thing He might change His mind about my salvation. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to trust the Lord to bring humility to me as Paul described in Romans 12:3, and to continue to rely on God’s truth and not my emotions.

 

The verse which went along with yesterday’s quote:  “Your Word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You (Psalm 119:11).”

 

1/21/2019 10:15 AM