November 07 2025

Friday November 07

The Sacred Secret

Ephesians 3:1-9

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles-- 2 if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, 3 how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ;

First, let me share a special personal prayer request. Yesterday morning I received word that my older sister, Lynda Smith, passed away in Denver Colorado and went to be with the Lord. Not only was she my older sister, but she was also a very special and dear friend. Because she was the oldest of the five children in our family, she played a major role in helping to raise the rest of us. She was a lifetime employee at both Continental and United Airlines. She was able to gift my dad, myself and my son Jonathan with special passes so that we could fly anywhere in the world (on standby) to do mission work, paying only a minimal fee for the taxes. One time we estimated that this gift was worth well over one million dollars in savings for all of us as we traveled to share the Good News of Jesus and His great salvation! She would track me as I traveled and keep me informed as to which flights would be open that I could catch at the next airport. She loved studying the Bible and especially prophecy! We are so thankful for her life and the great contribution that she made to missions around the world! Please be in prayer for her two children, Justin and Kristi and all her grandchildren and all her friends and family during this time. Thank you!

Today we're going to be looking at “the sacred secret” in Ephesians 3. It is what the Scripture calls the mystery. The mystery of the church. A plan that God had in ages past that was hidden in the Old Testament but is now being revealed in the New Testament. How that Gentiles can be a part of the family of God. How that the church can have unity with both Jews, Gentiles, and anyone and everyone who by faith receives Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. A sacred secret that was before hidden but now made known to believers to enjoy and to look forward to. Which is the fellowship that we can have in Christ Jesus with anyone and everyone who receives Jesus as Christ and Lord of their lives.

Now with that in mind, I believe as you read this passage and think about it, these verses will pop out to you. In these first 13 verses, Paul is trying to answer the question of why he's a prisoner in Rome. He begins by actually saying, “For this reason I” and then it seems like he has a parenthesis here because in verse 14 He seems to pick up where he left off and again repeats, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” So, it appears He was going to say, "I'm going to pray for you to know the love of Jesus Christ." But then He says, "I need to explain first why I'm in prison and what my ministry is and this wonderful sacred secret that you as Gentiles and Jews can have unity in your church." Remember chapter 2 ended on the subject of the unity that we should have in the church.

Please read again these first nine verses. “For this reason, I Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles. If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you”. A dispensation was a special period of time where God did a special work amongst people. There are different dispensations of times where God works and uses different methods. But His truth never changes. His principles never change. But His methods, they do change from time to time.

He says, "Was given to me for you, how? That by revelation He made known to me the mystery as I have briefly written already. By which when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets." What was that mystery? “That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. To me, though I'm the least of all the saints, this grace was given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.”

It was important to Paul for people to understand and know that God had given him a special ministry, a special calling at his salvation. Remember in Acts 9, he was told that he would be a light to the Gentiles. He'd bring the gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews did not understand this initially. Paul had this calling, and he knew that he was going to be used of God for this specific purpose. Everywhere he went as he founded churches, those churches were made up of both Jews and Gentiles. The mystery was they could have fellowship in Christ. They could be joined together in unity because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

My friend, this "sacred secret" was something hidden in the Old Testament, revealed in the New Testament, and today has great implications for us in our modern churches teaching us that we can have unity despite so many preferences and differences. Our unity is in the fellowship of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

God bless!