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­­­­LSB Ephesians 3:1-13

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 if indeed you 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 About which, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit: 6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, 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 proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 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, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my afflictions on your behalf, which are your glory.

The earth is a theater. A grand stage. And the play unfolding is the revelation of the attributes of God. The attributes of God, the perfections of God in evidence are the glory of God.

It's like the old question, if a tree falls in the forest when no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise. Likewise we could ask, if there is no one to witness the glory of the perfections of all of the attributes of God, is He? Are they?

The heavens declare . . . . what? The glory of God. Science has made us more guilty than ever we were before, as we gaze at infinite unmeasurable space and the beauty of galaxies as far as our new eyes in space can see. Bigger than ever we knew before now. Vast and immeasurable.

And yet, what we cannot find out even with Hubbel telescopes is that the immeasurable vastness of space is only a curtain that separates God from us. And we learn that it is temporary. He tells us a day is coming when He will roll up that curtain, that separation, like a scroll and the terror of God will be visible to men who it says will cry out for the mountains to fall on them.

The expanse that we can see declares His glory. It was nothing until He spoke it into place. Then it was. And it's so huge that we can't begin to measure it. Our little brains can't actually even begin to fathom the heavens as science has now declared to us what we didn't know was there before.

And yet this book, again, speaks to that phenomenon, before we realized the extent of the extent. The book said; Psalm 8

9 O Yahweh, our Lord,
How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
3 When I see Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have established;
4 What is man that You remember him,
And the son of man that You care for him?
5 Yet You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You crown him with glory and majesty!
6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;
You have put all things under his feet,
7 All sheep and oxen,
And also the animals of the field,
8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,
Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.

Yahweh created man and put him here on earth, for His glory. We were created and designed to worship Him and to bring glory to His name. He allowed the Serpent to cause the fall into sin.

He permitted this drama in this place, of good and evil. Rebellion and repentence. The earth is a theater for God to unveil all of His glories. Even wrath and judgement show the righteousness and holiness of God.

The audience is partially but not totally unseen to us on earth. Men, along with Angelic hosts. Both fallen and holy are looking on at the unfolding drama that is taking place on earth.

Earth created and fully glorious. The creation itself reveals the wisdom and beauty of God. Magnificent in it's perfections. But a good drama needs villains so that the righteousness of the Holy will be manifest.

God is omniscient, all knowing, all wise, omnipotent, all powerful, all Sovereign, Omnipresent, present everywhere at once, these attributes are evident in His creation.

But how will we know of His love, His mercy, His wrath, His judgements, His holiness, His righteousness, if He did not create Adam and then Adam did not fall into temptation and rebellion.

This world, this earth is a theater that puts all of God's attributes on display. A drama is unfolding here. Good and evil. A rebellion against God. Is He really wise? Really Holy? Really merciful? Really love?

How does holiness work with a rebellion against God? How do His holiness and righteousness and judgement and wrath and mercy and love and goodness and longsuffering all live together on the same theater stage?

We touched on this idea last week, as we have many times in the past. Peter says these things are; Things in which angels long to look. The drama unfolds. The war against God. The nations rage.

In the book of Revelation we learn that fully a third of the angelic hosts rebelled against God and were cast out of His presence. Demons look on with interest. Holy angels look on with interest.

Think about the word providence. Providence is God's control over everything past present and future in order for Him to bring all things to His victorious conclusion. He orchestrates all things. Providence.

I'm driving down a highway in the summertime and I can see a line of cars advancing past the flagman and I step on the gas hoping to get there in time and make it through the gate so I don't have to sit and wait for the pilot car to get all those people through and then bring traffic going the other direction through before I can proceed.

But he turns his sign around and I have to stop and wait 15 minutes. I grumble and put the truck in park and turn the engine off. Open the door and step out to stretch.

Then down around the curve out of sight I hear an explosion and see a mini mushroom cloud. A truck about 3 cars from the end of the last group was carrying nitro glycerin and it has exploded and wiped out everything for a couple of football fields in every direction. Cars in front and behind him are blown to bits. But I'm safe behind the flagman. Fiction for illustration.

We hear lots of stories like that. The guy who had the flu and missed the flight that got driven into the twin towers. He was home in bed.

Providence. It works both ways. The guy on the waiting list trying to get a seat on that plain if one got freed up. He's thrilled that he got a ride to where he needs to be against all odds. Then some muslims with guns hijack the plane. Every detail.

A sparrow falls from the sky, dead, in a forest that is silent. No one to see or know but God knows. Every atomic particle in the universes is under His control, and He brings all things to His conclusion for His glory. That phenomenon is what we call providence. God's attributes are on display through all of it.

It boggles our finite minds. We stutter, but, but, but, but, what about this? What about that? What about thermonuclear destruction that could be on the short list for all dwellers on earth. All things are through Him and for Him. If those days come, they are bringing His ultimate plan to it's inevitable conclusion according to His design.

Before it's all done, this book says mountains will melt like wax and islands will be moved into the sea. Every particle of every atom moving according to His providential hand towards His perfect end.

Colossians 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.…

I am blessed with a very simple, very humble intellect. And by that I mean I can read what I just read, and I understand all the words, and I believe all of it like a little child, but I don't really fully comprehend the depth of what Paul just said.

I know that you can't unscrew the inscrutable and I'm happy to leave it alone. Understand what little I can understand and leave the rest to the guys who sit under the covers with a flashlight saying the greek alphabet backwards. Laziness is perhaps a good thing. I don't need to go there. Perhaps I'm smart enough to avoid futility. Or maybe I'm just lazy.

The world is a stage and a vast drama is unfolding that shows those of us who are viewing and watching; the inscrutable wisdom of God who is sovereign over all things and who is putting every attribute on display for all of creation to see. A grand stage production. Fully under God's sovereign control.

That's our introduction. With that in mind, let's look together at vs. 10 of our text this morning. Eph. 3:10

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.

In the original language it goes something like this;

hina so that gnōristhē should be made known nyn now tais to the archais rulers kai and the exousiais authorities in the epouraniois heavenly realms through tēs the ekklēsias church the polypoikilos manifold sophia wisdom tou Theou of God

so that should be made known now to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms through the church the manifold wisdom of God

The subject of the verse is the revealing of the variegated wisdom of God to an audience on earth. The created beings, outside the world, are watching God's drama unfold. And God is putting on display His multi-faceted wisdom. And He's doing it differently than ever before. Something NEW has just happened in the grand play. He's working through His church.

A poor illustration. A chess game between good and evil. God and His hosts, and Satan and his hosts. Everyone's watching the moves unfold. Suddenly a gasp. God has moved a couple of his pawns out of the way and out comes the Bishop, and he stops at a certain place.

And the opposing side takes note. He's doing something with His bishop. He hasn't moved the bishop out until now. He stopped in that square. What does He have planned in His wisdom?

The opposition is surprised to see a new plan, a new play. They watch with interest. But they cannot see what God already has planned about 6 moves away. 6 more moves and that Bishop will hold king Satan in check mate.

But all the hosts look on as God makes His moves. Things unseen. Things that were secret in the past. Now in play. Moving inexhorably towards God's victory and triumph and Satan's ultimate defeat.

But what's the new player that has the whole heavenly host gasping in anticipation as the drama unfolds? It's the ekklesia. The church.

Us. You and me. Pinch yourself. Yes you. We are Christ's church and God is moving in us and through us, and all the unseen hosts of heaven are watching in anticipation to see what God will do next. Through His church.

Take a minute and think about your place in the drama. You've got Satan and all of his hosts. Fallen angels. Duped sinful trapped men. A vast array of rebellion against God.

Then on the other side you have God Almighty. Creator of all things. All wise, all powerful. Omniscient. Omipotent. Omnipresent. Sovereign King of kings.

You've got this ongoing drama of a rebellious planet at war with God. You've got God all wise unfolding His plan to redeem His chosen elect men and then to retake this planet and place it again under the rule of it's rightful owner, the Lord of all things, Jesus.

And the players in this grand drama of good against evil, are us. The church. Look again at what Paul just said in verse 10; Let's take the time to put it back into context; I'll begin at vs. 8. Ephesians 3:

vs. 8 To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to proclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; 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.

All of the hosts of heaven, both good and evil, are watching this drama, this war, this rebellion of evil against God Almighty, and you my friend, are the pawn on the chess board that is currently in play. God is bringing to full view His attributes, in this conflict, as He uses His beloved elect church, as He makes His every move.

Paul is beside himself. God just made a major move. All heaven and hell is gasping at what God just did. He put Israel on the shelf, He no longer unfolds His drama in this battle, through Israel, now He's working in the battle, through His church.

And as if that wasn't huge enough. Another new move! Another first. Ever! He's moving through not just one chosen nation, He's working through all peoples, all nations. The gentiles! All who will flee Satan's kingdom and come through repentence and forgiveness into God's ownership.

God, is calling out of Satan's holdings, trapped and duped sinful men. He's calling them out of that darkness and doom into His kingdom. His authority to reign.

In the grand battle, on the grand stage, God is one by one, calling lost sinful men out of Satan's kingdom and into His ownership. Their sins are forgiven by the shed blood in their place of the Lord Jesus. They are literally purchased by blood. Bought out of Satan's rebellion and brought to unspeakable riches in Christ's kingdom. One man, woman, child, at a time. Rescued out of darkness and into God's light.

And the heavenly hosts, both good and evil are gasping, we never saw that coming!! And a whole new color of God's variegated wisdom, never seen or known before, is now on display.

It used to just be the jews. I'll fight you with one hand tied behind my back. You've got the whole rebellious earth. I'll just use my one chosen nation. But now Israel is shelved. Satan thought he'd won a glorious victory. Killed God's Messiah. Benched God's chosen people. Win win. For Satan.

But Jesus comes out of the grave. And with 12 ridiculous men, the last guys you'd ever choose to build a team, God begins a new people. The church. And then He takes his new people to the gentiles. All the nations. Take that Satan.

Pinch yourselves people. We're on the side that wins. I read the end of the book. We win. And even today, all the hosts of heaven are watching . . . who?? The church. We are the players in this massive drama of God against Satan. It's in verse 10. The ecclesia. The called out ones. The church universal who belong to Lord Jesus.

Do you feel somehow more important than when you got here this morning? God's soldiers. In an unfair fight. It's totally an unfair fight. The deck is stacked. In our favor. Our Master and King is after all, The Creator. The Almighty. Omipotent. Omniscient. Omnipresent.

Totally an unfair fight. He doesn't need us. We're laughable against the odds. If it was just us.

Think about the odds. How many people in Tonopah? 2500. How many soldiers in this room this morning? 12.5 What's that. Half of one percent. That's our odds if everyone else belongs to the other king?

It's still not a fair fight. Because God doesn't need even the measly, laughable half of one percent to win. He just brings us along because we're so pitiful, it makes Him even more glorious. He just graciously brings us along to enjoy the fun of watching Him win.

That's kind of what Paul says next;
11 This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.

We ARE pitiful. On our own. But we have the Almighty backing us up. Don't let looks deceive you. We may be pitiful, but don't forget that God sent one angel in the old testament who slew an army of 185,000 men.

In 1 Chronicles 21:15, the "Angel of the Lord" is seen by David to stand "between the earth and the heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out against the Hebrews' enemies". Later, in 2 Kings 19:35, that angel kills 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.

I'm telling you. It's an unfair fight. We may look wimpy but we have unseen forces on our side that will win.

I can't resist taking the time to read you a Bible story from the old testament that illustrates what we're studying about 12.5 people against 2500 not being a fair fight. 2 Kings 6:

8 Now the king of Aram was warring against Israel; and he counseled with his servants saying, “In such and such a place shall be my camp.” 9 And the man of God sent word to the king of Israel saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Arameans are coming down there.” 10 And the king of Israel sent to the place about which the man of God had told him; thus he warned him, so that he guarded himself there, more than once or twice.

11 Then the heart of the king of Aram was enraged over this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me which of us is for the king of Israel?” 12 And one of his servants said, “No, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.” 13 So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and take him.” And it was told to him, saying, “Behold, he is in Dothan.”

14 So he sent horses and chariots and a heavy military force there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. 15 Then the attendant of the man of God arose early and went out, and behold, a military force with horses and chariots was all around the city. And his young man said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” 16 So he said, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Yahweh, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” And Yahweh opened the eyes of the young man and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 18 And they came down to him, and Elisha prayed to Yahweh and said, “Strike this people with blindness, I pray.” So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

19 Then Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city; walk after me and I will walk you over to the man whom you seek.” And he walked them over to Samaria. 20 Now it happened that when they had come into Samaria, Elisha said, “O Yahweh, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” So Yahweh opened their eyes and they saw; and behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

21 Then the king of Israel when he saw them, said to Elisha, “My father, shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down?” 22 And he said, “You shall not strike them down. Would you strike down those you have taken captive with your sword and with your bow? Set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink and walk back to their master.”

23 So he prepared a great feast for them; and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. And the marauding bands of Arameans did not come again into the land of Israel.

We not only have hosts who are looking on with interest at the drama that is unfolding, we have hosts of angels who God can use at any moment to cause the events that are unfolding to totally go in a different direction.

We need to gather together some evening later this spring when it's nice and maybe enjoy a meal together and then watch the movie just released called "The Essential Church". It's the story of how the entire state of California was coming against God's true church to silence them using Covid as their power grab.

And how one pastor withstood the onslaught with weekly threats and infractions adding up. Until the church forced the issue and demanded that the health department meet them in court. Put up or shut up. And the charges not only vanished, the state of California paid all of the court costs and lawyers fees to make the case go away.

Sort of like the pages we just read in 2 Kings. It isn't a fair fight people. We have Yahweh and all of His hosts on our side. If we're faithful.

Lets be honest. For most of us, most of the time, there's no drama because we simply avoid it. I don't go out spoiling for a fight. I'm totally guilty of letting sleeping dogs lie. I don't poke sleeping dogs with a stick.

And there's a case for that. In 1 Timothy 2, Paul tells us to pray for the end result of what?

1 First of all, then, I exhort that petitions and prayers, requests and thanksgivings, be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. 1Tim2:1,2

We don't go poking the sleeping dogs. We don't go looking for a fight. We pray to live quietly with dignity. But when Satan's camp brings one, we don't cower and hide either.

Notice in vs. 11 it says something to the effect; This was in accordance with the eternal purpose

What is the eternal purpose? The eternal purpose is; God takes back this stolen world. Satan the usurper and thief of glory that is due to God, and his hosts are defeated. Jesus returns, reclaims, judges, and rules this world. And the rebellers, they all ultimately wind up in hell. God wins.

But that doesn't mean His people physically win every little battle. We have boldness and confident access, and we know we ultimately win, but the elephant in that room was what Paul said right at the beginning of this chapter. vs. 1

1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles—

God wins. Christ wins. We know that. Paul knew that. But it didn't keep him out of prison. By God's providential plan, Paul went to prison, and wrote down the doctrines of the church that we live by today, 2000 years later.

We win. Later. When we come charging out of heaven on white horses, behind Jesus, who is leading the charge at His second coming, when it's all over for Satan and all the hosts rebelling against God.

But there's no guarantees you're going to keep out of prison right now. Paul didn't. And that's his point.

Vs. 13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my afflictions on your behalf, which are your glory.

So then, ultimately, I suppose our application this morning is this. Are you in the battle? Somewhere? Maybe it's just knitting blankets for the guys on the front lines of battle. But something. Are we doing anything the hosts of heaven would want to gaze into?

My best friend has a story about his dad. His dad told him when he was leaving home and moving some distance away in his youth something like this; Your life is a book that you're writing. Make it interesting.

I think of that often in this regard. Is what I'm doing in and for the forces of God's ultimate battle, here on earth, the fight against Satan's rebellion, interesting enough that anyone unseen is looking on.

On You Tube these days everyone needs subscribers so that they have enough traffic so that advertisers consider them worth advertising dollars. It's gotten to be a big business.

If my life for Christ is a You Tube channel, and unseen hosts are looking on as I wage war in whatever it is I'm doing for the cause of Christ, do I have any subscribers. Is what God is doing through me interesting and threatening enough to the enemy that anyone is interested enough to watch? Or, is what I'm doing in the battle of the ages about as interesting as watching paint dry?

In C. S. Lewis' classic, the Screwtape Letters, theres a story I remember about demons looking on and gathering together in areas of special concern. Looking on, exactly as Paul states here in vs. 10.

And looking at a particular area, there isn't any concern or gathering around any of the local churches. They don't cause any problems to Satan or the demons. But there's a lot of demons gathered together with concern in one place. A humble house with an old couple inside.

And the younger demon getting the instruction asks why all the concern about this obviously humble abode with a couple of old saints inside. The the older wiser demon says, it's because those two old saints are causing more trouble in Satan's kingdom by their effectual prayers than all of the churches put together.

Paul says; 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.

We'll finish with this thought this morning from the book of Hebrews. I was tickled this week to discover that R. A. Torrey in his masterful collection of references which everyone should have a copy, The Treasury of Sripture Knowledge, he refers to Hebrews as Paul's epistle to the Hebrews. Apparently R. A. Torrey was convinced who the author was, if none of the rest of us are;

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, laying aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary, fainting in heart. Heb. 12:1 - 3

We have a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us. God is using the church to display His wisdom to rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

Your walk with God, in Christ, is a book that He is writing with you. To the best of your ability, in so far as you have choices, make it an interesting story. A great cloud of witnesses is watching the church, and the church . . . is you.