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
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