The Marvellous Mystery

Good morning everyone.

So it's a pleasure to be here with you again at Brentsfield.

I normally get invited twice to most churches, the second time once to apologise, but I keep

getting back invited.

So it is a pleasure, but it's also a privilege and a responsibility to share God's Word with

you.

So will you join me as we just pray and ask God to help us to understand it, and more

importantly to put it into practice.

So let's just bow in a moment's prayer.

Gracious God, as we focus on the greatness of the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ,

we pray that by your Holy Spirit you might make it clear to us the greatness of your love

and grace, and that we might respond with hearts full of thanksgiving, and if we've never

before grasped it for ourselves, that you might help us to do that also, that we might know

what it is to be born again of the Spirit of God.

And we ask it in Jesus' name of your glory.

Amen.

A few outlines on the screen, hopefully, that will help you to follow.

I discover in preaching, as most of you know now, since I stepped down from Charlotte Chapel

in 2009, I spent most of my time listening to sermons instead of preaching them.

In fact, I don't exaggerate, in the last five years I've probably listened to hundreds of

sermons, and it's a great privilege and also a great responsibility.

And some people like PowerPoint, other people can't stand it, so if you can't stand it, don't

look at it, alright?

If you do find it helpful, then just follow along, okay?

So, as many of you will know, at midnight last Sunday, April the 5th, some sweeping changes

came into place to allow people over the age of 55 to access all their pension funds without

limit.

This is great news if you're over 55.

And I should say, by the way, that if you see me in the future driving around a Ferrari

instead of my Ford Focus, you'll know the reason why.

This plan was a closely guarded secret.

And it caught everyone by surprise when George Osborne, the Chancellor, announced it a year

ago in his budget.

Now, important though this is, for those who qualify, I want to say this morning, it is

nothing.

This plan pales into insignificance in comparison with a wonderful plan which is described in

this next section of this letter written to Christians in the Greek city of Ephesus by

the Apostle Paul, which you've been studying, I understand, over the past few weeks.

In the new international, in the new, new international version of the Bible, this is the 1988 version,

and it's pretty much the same as the new one which came out in 2011.

That's about 6% of changes, nothing too substantial.

But if you've got a Bible, you might want to turn to it, it's page 1174, or one of the Pew Bibles.

The words will be on the screen, but in the new version, you'll see the Pew Bibles, the section

beginning Ephesians 3, this is page 1174, 1174.

All right, we'll help to have a Bible for other reasons in a moment.

But in this version, this section is entitled, Pull the Preacher to the Gentiles.

In the new version, I like the new heading.

The new heading is, God's marvelous plan for the Gentiles.

God's marvelous plan for the Gentiles.

Now, when George gave his pension plan, you may have switched up.

Those who switched off, those who was over 55 sat up and smiled.

My pension advisor sent me an email and said,

this is good news for you.

I thank you very much.

So when we read this, I simply want to say,

this is good news for the over 55s here,

but it's good news for the under 55s.

In fact, it's good news, it says, for Gentiles.

So if you're a Gentile, that is, you weren't born as a Jew,

then pay attention because this is good news for you.

And if you are a Jew, if you were born a Jew, a privileged position,

then it also applies to you as well, as we'll see together.

It's quite a complex passage, so let's read together.

I've put it on the screen and let's read together.

For this reason, I pull the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles.

Surely you've heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you.

That is the mystery made known to me by revelation,

as I've already written briefly.

In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,

which was not made known to people in other generations,

as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.

This mystery is that through the gospel,

the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,

members together of one body,

and share us together in the promise of Christ.

That's quite a tightly packed, complex passage,

but it's a bit like,

have you ever got a copy of your pension plan?

All those legal details and everything.

You need to study it carefully to work out what the details mean for you in reality.

So, with God's help, I want to try and unpack this to help us to understand.

And the first thing I want you to notice, here it is again,

will you notice the key word in this section is the word mystery.

It occurs three times.

In fact, in the original text, it only occurs twice.

The third time it's given to make it clear what it's talking about.

Now, this letter was written to people living in the Greek city of Ephesus,

and lo and behold, the people in the Greek city of Ephesus spoke Greek.

Okay, everybody got that?

Yep.

And the Greeks had a word for mystery.

And the Greek word for mystery is musterion,

from which we get the English word mystery.

In other words, our word mystery comes from the Greek word mystery,

but it doesn't mean the same in English as it did in Greek.

Okay, you still with me?

Lod your heads, look intelligent.

All right.

Yeah, you all still there?

Right.

Okay.

In English, in my dictionary,

a mystery is defined as an unexplained

or inexplicable event or phenomenon.

But in Greek,

a mystery,

a musterion,

in the Greek language,

was a secret

that had been revealed

to someone.

in ancient Greek,

in ancient Greek,

they actually had religions.

They were called mystery religions.

And they told people,

if you paid enough

or did all the right things,

you got let in on the mystery,

what the secret was,

this wonderful divine secret

that had been revealed.

Now,

Paul uses this word here

to describe

the Christian faith.

And he says it's a mystery.

That doesn't mean

you can't understand it.

It means

it's truth from God

that has been revealed.

So,

here's a title.

It's not the greatest title,

but I kind of like it.

So,

here we go.

I'm going to call this

The Marvelous Mystery.

All right?

The Marvelous Mystery.

Now,

if you've been following this series

in Ephesians,

you will know

that Paul actually,

in the opening section

of his letter,

after giving the greetings,

he gives this fantastic

hymn of praise.

It lasts from

chapter 1,

verse,

after the greeting,

verses 1 and 2,

from verse 3

right through to verse 14.

Greek is a funny language

because it adds things together.

So,

from verse 3 to verse 14

is all one sentence

in Greek.

It doesn't make any sense

in English

because you've lots of track

by the time you get

to the third line.

It's such a wonderful thing.

And in it,

he introduces the theme

of mystery.

Listen carefully.

Ephesians 1,

9 to 10.

He says,

And he,

that is God,

made known to us

the mystery

of his will

according to his good pleasure

which he purposed in Christ

to be put into effect

when the times

will have reached

their fulfillment

to bring all things

in heaven and earth

together under one head,

even Christ.

One writer has compared

that opening section

with the overture

before an opera.

Have you ever been

to an opera?

Or you've listened

to some great piece

of music?

What they do

in the overture,

they play all the basic themes

very briefly

and then as it develops,

the music focuses

on each of those themes

in more detail.

So here's Paul introducing

mystery at this point

in the opening chapter

and then when he comes

to chapter 3

he says,

This is the mystery

known to me by Revelation,

verse 3,

as I've already written briefly.

In other words,

he said,

I told you I was going

to talk about it

in the opening bit,

now I've come to it

in chapter 3.

And he impacts it

in detail.

So let me give you

an overview

of where these six verses go

and then we'll try

and follow it together,

okay?

So in Ephesians 3,

1 to 6,

in the first two verses

he talks about,

and I'll try and explain

what this means,

he talks about

what he calls

the administration

of the mystery.

Then in verses 3 to 5

he talks about

the revelation

of the mystery.

And then in the last bit,

in verse 6,

he talks about

the description

of the mystery.

Now maybe for dramatic effect

that we have to wait

until verse 6

to find out

what the mystery actually is.

So I think it makes

more sense,

I'm not rewriting Paul here

just to make it intelligible,

I think it makes more sense

if we go backwards way around

and start with the description,

then the revelation,

and then the administration.

Okay?

This is hard stuff,

okay,

so stay with me,

alright,

it's really important,

alright?

So let's start with

the description,

the mystery.

What is the mystery?

This mystery,

he says,

is that through the gospel,

the Gentiles,

the heirs together

with Israel,

members together

of one body,

and sharers together

in the promise

in Christ Jesus.

Now I just read that

and there was not

a flicker of reaction

from anybody here.

If I had read this

to first century Jews,

there would have been

a riot.

In fact,

we're going to look

in a moment

at a story

that precipitated this

that actually caused

a riot.

a riot.

Why?

Because of the feeling

of absolute superiority

that the Jewish people

had towards anyone

who wasn't Jewish,

i.e.

what we call a Gentile.

Here's what William Barclay,

a New Testament scholar,

says.

The Jews had an immense

contempt for the Gentile.

They said that Gentiles

were created by God

to be fuel

for the fires of hell.

that God left only Israel

of all the nations

he'd made,

that the best of serpents

crushed,

the best of Gentiles

killed.

It was not lawful

to render help

to a Gentile woman

in childbirth,

for that would be

to bring another Gentile

into the world.

The barrier between

Jew and Gentile

was absolute.

If a Jew

married a Gentile,

the funeral of that Jew

was carried out.

Such contact

with a Gentile

was the equivalent

of death

even to go into

a Gentile house

rendered a Jew

unclean.

Now,

here is this man

writing this letter.

His name is Paul.

By background,

he's a Jew

and not just a Jew,

he's a Jew

from the strictest

group of Jews

called the Pharisees.

He's a former member

of the ruling council

of the Jewish nation

and he says,

I've got a secret

to share with the world.

And the secret is this,

Gentiles

are on an equal footing

with Jews.

And he describes

what this means.

He kind of,

if you like,

this is the,

keep going back

to the pension,

this is the pension portfolio.

He unpacks

what this means

in detail.

He uses three

compound words

together.

They're translating

the NIV

with the word

with.

He says,

Gentiles are,

look at the text,

heirs together,

members together,

and sharers together

with the Jews

in all the privileges

that were once

only exclusive

to the people of Israel.

Look at them,

look at them more closely

with me,

very briefly.

Because,

let me say again,

this is of an estimable

value to us.

Because without this,

you wouldn't be here,

Brentsfield Evangelical Church

wouldn't be here,

there wouldn't be a church

in Edinburgh

or anywhere else.

they'd just be

Jewish people in Israel

and scattered around

in Diaspora

and other parts

of the world,

alright?

So,

first of all,

he says,

we're heirs together

with Israel.

The people of Israel

were God's chosen people.

They belonged to him

personally,

intimately,

as his people.

As his family,

they were the children

of Israel.

Other people and races

didn't belong.

And even among

the Jews themselves,

if you trace the history

of the Jewish people,

not everybody born

into the family of Jews

was an heir.

If you know

the Old Testament story,

the two sons of Abraham,

the father of Israel,

Isaac and Ishmael.

Isaac was the chosen one.

Ishmael was not,

contrary to what

the Quran rewrites,

by the way,

but we won't even go there.

Jacob and Esau,

twin boys.

The older one,

Esau,

was not chosen,

but Jacob was chosen.

So,

belonging to Israel

means inheriting

all the privileges

and wealth

of God's own

chosen people.

But now,

Paul says,

as it were,

Gentiles have been

adopted in

and they are heirs,

they share together

with all those privileges.

What are the blessings

they inherit?

Well,

they're the ones

that we looked at

in the opening section,

chapter 1.

I haven't got time

to read it all again,

but if you're a Christian

and you want to know

what a wonderful thing

it is to be a Christian,

then sit down regularly

and read Ephesians 1,

3 to 14,

where he says,

Praise be to the God

and Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us

in the heavenly realms

with every spiritual

blessing in Christ.

And then he lists

all the blessings

that belong to the people

of Israel,

that now belong

to Gentiles,

to each one of us,

through faith

in Jesus Christ.

Christ.

Not only are they

heirs together,

he says,

we are members together

of one body.

See,

it's not as though

Gentiles were kind of

let in as second class citizens.

It was not even that

Gentiles had to become

Jews to belong.

That was a big battle

the early church

wrestled with.

It took a vision

to the Apostle Peter,

the conversion

of a Gentile Roman centurion

to convince him

that Gentiles

were accepted

by God.

No,

Gentiles didn't have

to become Jews

and Jews didn't have

to become Gentiles.

Rather,

they became one new family,

one new people

of God.

I didn't have a chance

to listen to the

previous sermon

because it's not posted

on your website yet,

but last time,

I assume,

in the last time

when we looked at

chapter 2 together,

it's all about this,

about how God

has reconciled

these former enemies

together.

It says,

for he himself

is our peace

who has made

the two groups one

and has destroyed

the barrier,

the dividing wall

of hostility.

So Jews and Gentiles

are members of one body,

the body of Christ.

Our great privilege,

if we belong to Christ,

if you are a Christian,

that is,

if you put your faith

in Jesus Christ,

you receive the Holy Spirit,

you know God's forgiveness

in your life,

you are a member,

it's not just Jesus

and me.

When I grew up,

it was a long time ago,

in my church,

there were lots of

really popular songs

all about Jesus and me.

There's one actually,

the chorus was,

now it's just Jesus and me.

No, it isn't.

It's Jesus and me

and you and you

and you and you

and you and you

and you.

We belong together.

We're part of God's people.

I travel around a lot now,

visiting different churches,

talking to different people,

telling one of my

greatest concerns

is that people today

are giving up

on the local church.

And you talk to them,

you say,

which church are you going to now?

Well, I don't go anywhere really.

I've just been hurt so badly

by these Christians

and I've just had enough really.

I go along from time to time

but I don't really want

to get involved.

Listen,

you cannot afford

not to be involved

because you belong

to God's people.

This is not a plug

from the pastor,

I mention it to him

but if you worship here regularly

then make yourself

part of this body.

Get intimately involved

because you belong

to God's people.

So,

heirs together,

members together

and he says,

share us together

in the promise

in Christ Jesus.

You see,

the promise in Christ Jesus,

the promise of the Messiah Jesus

was one that every Jew

looked forward to

over many generations

in fulfillment

of all the promises

of the prophets.

and these had all

been fulfilled now

in the coming

of Jesus Christ,

the Savior,

the Christ.

So Gentiles

who were ignorant

of such promises

were now sharers

with the Jews

in the same promise

and the culmination

of that promise

was on the day

that we call

the day of Pentecost

when the Holy Spirit

was poured out

upon the people

when the Apostle Peter

preached the first

great sermon

on the day of Pentecost

and at the end of it

people said,

what do we have to do then?

Here's what Peter said.

He said,

repent and be baptized

every one of you

in the name of Jesus Christ

for the forgiveness

of your sins

and you will receive

the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The promise,

notice the word,

the promise is for you

and your children

for all who are far off

for all whom the Lord

our God will call.

He says,

you Jews,

it's mostly a Jewish audience

or Jewish converts listening,

he said,

this promise is for you

and successive generations

but it's also for people

who are far off

whom the Lord

our God will call.

Gentile people.

And they're the people

of subsequent generations

down to our own day.

And the mystery is,

says Paul,

that through the gospel,

the good news of Jesus,

any Gentile

becomes an heir together

with God's people,

sharing in the promise,

part of one body.

Now let me pause

at this point

because I don't know

many of you

and this is really important.

Do you belong?

Have you repented?

That is,

have you turned from your sin?

Here's the promise,

if you turn from your sin,

you put your faith

in Jesus Christ,

God promises two things,

he will forgive you

and he will give you

his Holy Spirit

and you'll walk out of this door

as a member of God's people

because Gentiles

are now included

in something that was exclusive

only to Jews up to this point.

Now,

I realize most of us

probably know that

but I can't communicate

just how dramatic

and how incredible this is.

But it's God's great plan.

You see,

God so lived the world

that he gave his son.

Not just Jews.

Paul says,

I'm not ashamed of the gospel,

it's the power of God

for the salvation

of everyone who believes.

First for the Jew,

then for the Gentile,

Romans 1 verse 16.

Romans 1:16

So,

this is the secret

that's now out into the open.

Gentiles as well as Jews

are included in God's plan.

That's the description

of the mystery.

Okay,

point two.

Now we return

to the second matter

which is

the revelation

of the mystery.

How was this mystery revealed?

Again,

look at the verses together.

The mystery made known

to me by revelation

as I've already written briefly.

In reading this,

then you will be able

to understand my insight

into the mystery of Christ

which was not made known

to men in other generations

as it has now been revealed

by the Spirit

to God's holy apostles

and prophets.

Two things Paul says here

about this revelation

of this news

that Jews,

Gentiles as well as Jews

are included.

First of all,

he says,

it was not revealed

in the past.

He said,

it was not made known

to men in other generations.

Now,

if you know the Bible,

you will know

that when God made

his promise to Abraham

and made an agreement

to covenant with him.

In Genesis chapter 12,

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

he said,

through you,

all nations on earth

will be blessed.

The prophets look forward,

the Hebrew prophets

look forward to people

being welcomed

from all over the world.

But the details

of the plan,

the amazement,

the enormity

of the detail

of this plan

was not revealed

until this present moment.

But Paul says,

it's now been revealed

in the present.

And Paul says,

it's been revealed,

first of all,

he says,

it was revealed to me

personally,

made known to me

by revelation.

Again,

it's hard to grasp

how revolutionary

and radical

and offensive it was

that Jews,

that Gentiles

as well as Jews,

were equally loved by God.

How radical this would have been

to a first century Jew.

So in order to make it known,

God chose the least likely candidate

to convince him

that it was true

so he could convince

other people.

And that man

was Saul of Tarsus.

And in order to convince him,

a direct revelation

was necessary.

If you think about it,

it's probably the only way

you could convince a man

like Saul of Tarsus,

convince Pharisee,

believe that Jesus

was a heretic,

crucified by the Romans.

How could he possibly

have been the Messiah?

Imagine the Apostle Peter,

an unlearned fisherman,

trying to persuade Paul

that Jesus was the Messiah.

He'd have probably

out-thought him,

out-quoted him

and everything else.

But it took an amazing revelation,

if you know the Bible,

as Paul,

Saul of Tarsus,

was on his way to Damascus

to round up more Christians,

put them in prison,

execute them.

A light shone from heaven,

a voice said,

Saul, Saul,

why are you persecuting me?

And he recognized

it was the voice of God

and he said,

who are you, Lord?

And he said,

I'm Jesus,

whom you're persecuting.

Interestingly,

when Paul relates this story

to a Jewish king,

this is later on

in the book of Acts,

Acts 26 · chapter mention

chapter 26,

when he tells his story,

he says,

God then said to him,

now get up,

stand on your feet,

I've appointed you

as a servant

and as a witness

to what you've seen of me

and what I will show you.

You're going to tell people

about this

and I'm sending you

to them,

to the Gentiles.

I will rescue you

from your own people,

from the Gentiles,

I'm sending you

to the Gentiles

to open their eyes

and turn them

from darkness to light

and from the power

of Satan to God

so they may receive

forgiveness of sins

and a place among those

who are sanctified

by faith in me.

So Paul says,

this was revealed

to me personally.

But the question

you need to then ask

and which Paul anticipates

is,

was this some kind

of personal delusion

on his part?

No, for Paul tells

the Ephesians,

it was also revealed

to other church leaders.

It has now been revealed

by the Spirit

to God's holy apostles

and prophets.

If you go back

one book from Ephesians,

you come to another letter

written to,

again,

to Greek Christians

in the Roman province

of Galatia.

And Paul relates

how after his conversion

on the road to Damascus,

14 years later,

he's preparing

for this great ministry

to the Gentiles.

But 14 years later,

he decides to go up

to Jerusalem

to visit the apostles,

the leaders of the church there.

Why does he go?

He says,

I went there

in response,

this is Galatians 2 verse 2,

Galatians 2:2

I went in response

to a revelation

and set before them

the gospel

that I preach

among the Gentiles.

I did this privately

to those who seemed

to be leaders

for fear

that I was running

or had run my race

in vain.

In other words,

he said,

I wanted to check this out

to make sure

I got this right.

And he shared with them

what God had revealed

to him

that the gospel

was also for Gentiles

as well as Jews.

Here's the conclusion,

Galatians 2 verse 7.

Galatians 2:7

They saw that

I had been interested

with the task

of preaching the gospel

to the Gentiles

just as Peter

had been interested

with the task

of preaching

to the Jews.

James,

Peter and John,

those reputed

to be pillars,

gave me and Barnabas,

his colleague,

the right hand of fellowship

when they recognized

the grace given to me.

They agreed

that we should go

to the Gentiles

and they should go

to the Jews.

So Paul says

his insight

into the mystery of Christ

is the same

as the apostles.

Now again,

you may say,

well,

why is this important?

Well,

it's really important

for one reason.

With the regularity

of Halley's Comet,

but unfortunately

much more frequently,

around about every 20 years

in my experience,

people start to propagate

an interesting story

and the story is this.

Jesus was a simple teacher

who taught this simple message

and then along came Paul

who was a really bright guy

and he confused everything

by developing

a different kind of gospel.

So the gospel of Jesus

and the gospels

is different

to what Paul preached.

No, it isn't.

Paul says

we were in absolute harmony.

We agreed together

that this revelation

was a revelation from God

because if it doesn't include Gentiles,

we're not included.

If you're a Christian,

it's that gospel

on which you stake your life

and your eternal destiny.

So,

we're the most privileged people

of all

for we live in the day

when the mystery of God's plan,

the marvelous mystery

has now been revealed.

But great privileges

bring with them

great responsibilities.

So we're working backwards,

you'll be glad to know,

we now come to the opening verse

and what Paul calls

the administration

of the mystery.

Look again at verse 1.

It's kind of,

if you look in the NIV,

it says,

for this reason I, Paul,

the prisoner of Christ Jesus

for the sake of you Gentiles.

And then,

did you notice,

he breaks off.

He gets diverted

and he comes back in,

way back,

further down in verse 14,

he comes back to his,

for this reason.

For this reason I kneel

before the Father.

And he talks about

what he prays.

He's diverted because

what interrupts his thought

is his present circumstances.

He says,

I, Paul,

the prisoner of Christ Jesus

for the sake of you Gentiles.

The reason he says,

I'm in prison

is for the sake of you Gentiles.

And then he says,

surely you've heard

about the administration

of God's grace

that was given to me for you.

That is the mystery

made known to me

by revelation

as I've already written briefly.

Now he uses

an interesting word here.

He uses the word

translated administration.

Some versions

translate it stewardship.

It's a word

that was originally used

for a steward

or a person in charge

of a rich man's wealth

who was responsible

for administering

his wealth

and his property

and his assets.

In fact,

I think,

Derek,

you're into finances.

Do you not have

pension fund administrators?

Are you a pension fund administrator?

You're not?

No.

He just tells you

how to spend your money.

That's a different thing

altogether.

A pension fund administrator

is someone

who looks after

the wealth

in the pension fund

and makes sure

it gets to the right people.

Are you not tired

of picking up your phone

and someone says,

Are you aware of PPI?

My wife has done everything

to stop these calls.

She's written all these things,

tried to block the phone.

Every evening she goes mad.

Just as you start your tea,

you pick up the phone

and someone says,

Are you aware

that the bank has set aside

millions of pounds

for PPI?

I'd never heard of PPI.

I'd do until

the last few years.

But apparently,

and I've hardly ever met anyone

who got anything out of it,

but presumably there are people

here who are living

on the proceeds,

but their role is,

probably not these con people

who are ringing you up

and trying to get a share of it,

but the role is

that the banks

have set aside

certain funds

for people who are

mis-sold PPI.

That's my understanding of it.

You can correct me afterwards

if I'm wrong.

But the responsibility

of the people

in the banks

is to make sure

those who are eligible

get what is due to them.

And Paul says,

My role,

I'm the administrator

of God's grace.

All the riches

that are in Christ,

all the wonderful things

that we focus on

in chapter 1,

he says,

All those wonderful things,

I've got the responsibility

of making sure

the Gentiles know

that they qualify.

He says,

Paul's administration

is to share God's grace

with the Gentiles.

That's his responsibility,

that administration.

But notice what he says.

He says,

It is a costly calling.

For whenever Paul

carried out this responsibility,

if you read the book of Acts,

which is the story of,

second half at least,

of Paul's journeys

when he went around

the Mediterranean world

telling Gentiles and Jews

about the good news of Jesus,

if you read that account,

whenever he carried out

those responsibilities,

it provoked an extreme reaction

on the part of the people

who heard it,

in particular the Jews.

Whenever he said,

Gentiles are included

as well as Jews,

it caused a riot.

Because the Jews thought

they were the only recipients

who qualified.

And that's why Paul

is writing this letter.

He says,

I, Paul,

a prisoner of Christ Jesus

for the sake of you Gentiles.

Now, he's probably referring here

to a specific story.

How did Paul,

Paul is writing this

from a prison cell in Rome.

He's awaiting trial

before the Emperor Nero.

How did he get there?

It's an interesting story.

If you go back again

to the book of Acts,

Paul was visiting

the city of Jerusalem,

and he got with him

some companions

who were Gentile

by background,

and among them

was one of the,

probably a man

who was one of the church members

from the church in Ephesus.

The man named Trophimus.

A man named Trophimus.

And he was in Jerusalem

with these Gentiles.

This man called Trophimus,

he was visiting Jerusalem,

and the Jewish people

heard about it,

and they raised a rumor

and they said,

Paul has broken Jewish law,

he's taken this Gentile

into the inner courts

that are forbidden

to Gentiles.

And literally,

a riot ensued.

They dragged Paul

and his companions

out of the temple area

to stone him

and kill him.

And it caused

an absolute riot.

If you picture Jerusalem

in those days,

there's this riot

in the streets.

Now the Romans knew

that this was the kind of thing

that often happened

among the Jews.

So right in the middle

of the complex

in Jerusalem,

they had a fortress

called the Fortress of Antonia,

and the Jews put

a squadron of soldiers

up there

who sat on a tower

looking down,

watching out for riots.

And when they saw

this riot ensuing,

the commander

of the forces

dashed down the stairs,

out into the streets,

and ran into the middle

of the crowd

to rescue Paul

and to find out

what was happening.

It's a fantastic story.

You can read it in

Acts chapter 21 and 22.

Acts 21 · chapter mention

And they literally

have to carry Paul out

because he's being

literally torn apart

by the Jews.

And as they're carrying him

into the fortress entrance,

Paul says to him,

can I just have a word

with them

before you take me in?

You might be glad

to get out of there,

wouldn't you?

And he said,

please,

could I just say something?

And the commander said,

okay.

And Paul turns around,

and if you read

the book in Acts,

he speaks in Aramaic,

which is the mother tongue

of the Jewish crowd.

And the book of Acts

says as soon as he spoke

in Aramaic,

they all were

absolutely silent

because they recognized

he was one of them.

And Paul then

told his story

of how he became

a Christian.

And everybody's listening

with rapt attention

until Acts 22,

Acts 22:21

verse 21,

he finally says,

then the Lord

said to me,

go,

I will send you

far away

to the Gentiles.

And as soon as

he said this,

the crowd turns ugly,

the crowd listened

to Paul,

Acts 22,

Acts 22:22

verse 22,

the crowd listened

to Paul

until he said this,

then they raised

their voices

and shouted,

rid the earth of him,

he's not fit to live.

And they had to bodily

lift him up

and carry him to safety.

And the outcome

of this is that Paul

appeals to the emperor

Nero,

and so he's carted off

to Rome awaiting trial,

and so he writes

to the Christians

in Ephesus and says,

you know,

I'm here in prison

for the sake of you Gentiles.

Probably,

for the sake specifically

of your church member

Trophimus,

who's the focus

of this riot.

You see,

sharing the marvellous

mystery,

in fact,

here's a test

of whether you really

are into gospel preaching.

It always provokes

a reaction.

It always provokes

hostility.

That's why Christians

today are suffering.

Why are Christians

so hated?

That's the politicians

who finally got on board

with this.

You see last week

that David Cameron

and I think Nick Clegg

and David,

yeah,

Ed Miliband,

get the right,

Miliband here,

they all mentioned

about Christians

suffering.

Why do people

go into school

in Kenya

and isolate

the Christian students

and kill 147 of them?

Why do they take

Egyptian Coptic Christians

down to a beach

and behead them?

What have they done?

They're Christians.

There is a cost

to proclaiming

the gospel

of Jesus Christ

and to speaking

for Christ.

But Paul knows

that all of this

is under God's

sovereign control

and we need

that assurance.

They need that assurance

for at the sharp end

of this.

We may need it

increasingly in our society

the way things are going.

And Paul says,

I'm a prisoner

of Christ Jesus.

John Stutt

in the Bible

Speaks Today

Comanche and Ephesians

writes,

Humanly speaking,

Paul was not

Christ's prisoner

but Nero's.

But Paul never did speak

or think in purely

human terms.

He believed

in the sovereignty

of God

over the affairs

of men.

Therefore,

he called himself

literally a prisoner

of Christ Jesus.

So convinced

was he

that the whole

of his life,

including his

wearisome

imprisonment,

was under

the lordship

of Christ.

See,

there is a cost

to administering

the gospel.

There's a cost

to administering

the gospel.

But all of that

is under God's

sovereign control.

I wonder,

do you and I

have that same

conviction as well?

Or do we look

and think,

this is just terrible.

It's happening

all over the world

to Christians.

It's terrible

how even in our society

Christians are being

discriminated against.

But it's under

God's sovereign

control.

Paul has this

responsibility

to share this

marvelous mystery.

The administration

of God's grace,

the good news

of Jesus Christ,

the gospel.

That is our mandate

as Christians.

We have this

amazing portfolio

of everything

that is offered

to us in Christ.

All these wonderful

promises.

Read them again

in Ephesians 1.

And as a church,

we have the responsibility

of sharing this good news

for everybody out there.

That you're included

in this.

You may say,

people don't want

to listen.

People don't want

to listen to people

telling you about PPI,

but it isn't stopping,

does it?

But this really is true.

It is for everyone

who will believe.

That is our mandate.

Almost finished.

Midnight last Sunday,

the 5th of April,

sweeping changes

came into effect

to allow people

to use their pension funds

as they pleased.

It's good news,

especially for over 55s.

2,000 years ago,

at 3 o'clock

in the afternoon,

on the day we call

Good Friday,

an infinitely more

important change

took place

when Jesus of Nazareth

died on a cross

outside the city

of Jerusalem.

Mark tells us

in his Gospel,

with a loud cry,

Jesus breathed

his last

the curtain

of the temple

was torn in two

from top to bottom.

The temple,

the curtain

that separated sinners

from a holy God,

was torn in two.

The door to heaven

was open wide

for all.

And Mark tells us

something quite amazing.

At that moment,

the first guy

to step through the door

was a Roman centurion.

when the centurion

who stood there

in front of Jesus

saw how he died,

he said,

Surely,

this man

was the Son of God,

the first of

an innumerable company

of Gentiles

who through faith

in Christ

enter into God's presence

and know in person

for their sins forgiven

with the hope

of eternal life

and all the promises

of God.

I hope we're among

that company,

each one of us,

if not,

make this your day.

And if we are,

it's good news

that we need to share

with other people,

with the Gentiles

out there

in Edinburgh

and to the ends

of the earth

until Christ returns.

It's a marvellous mystery

now been revealed.

Let's rejoice in it.

Let's just pray briefly

and then I'll hand back

to Paul.

Let's be bound in quietness

just for a moment.

Perhaps you've not yet

entered into all these

wonderful privileges

that are offered

in the gospel.

Never really repented

of your sin.

Put your faith in Jesus.

Take this opportunity today.

Now is the day of salvation.

Now is the day

of God's grace.

God's grace.

And for those of us

who have,

let's rejoice

in all that it means.

All the privileges

that are ours in Christ.

Gracious Father,

thank you for the good news

of the gospel.

That is good news

for all people,

Jews and Gentiles.

May we rejoice in it.

May we live in it.

May we not live

as spiritual purpose

when we have

all the resources

and riches of Christ

available to us.

May we rejoice in it

and as a church,

may we share this good news,

this mystery,

with the watching world

outside.

And we ask it in Jesus' name

for your glory.

Amen.

Thank you.