The Manifold Wisdom of God

Today I want to strongly recommend you listen to a recent sermon by Marc Wragg, Pastor of my church, Saving Grace Bible Church. The sermon is based on Ephesians 3:7-12 and is entitled the  "The Mystery of God" (Part 4). 

The sermon focuses on the meaning of the mystery of God. According to Pastor Wragg a mystery is defined as "how God planned, according to His own will, to bring the hope of salvation to every family on the Earth, through Jesus Christ." 

In other words, a mystery is something formerly hidden by God, that has now been made known. Anything we know of God is only what he has made known to us. Moses describes a mystery in Deuteronomy 29:29 this way:

“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." 

The mystery Paul describes in Ephesians is the inclusion of gentiles into the promises of God. (Romans 9:22-26) This inclusion is no secret when one searches the scriptures or the ministry life of Christ, however, it wasn't clear prior to God's revelation. 

Paul was the minister of this mystery as the apostle to the Gentiles. His ministry faced opposition among his contemporaries. However, once the Lord Christ had made this mystery known to him, the truth of the scriptures and the effectiveness of his ministry proved his message true. 

With regard to the ministry of this mystery Pastor Wragg says:

“The Church does not exist simply for the purpose of saving souls, though that is a marvelous and important work. 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 the ultimate reality after all evil is conquered and destroyed.”

He further simplified this truth with a wonderful illustration: Heaven is a classroom, God is the teacher, the angels are the students and the church is the illustration. The lesson is the manifold wisdom of God. 

As the angels see the wisdom of God put on display their worship intensifies... what an amazing truth! Considering the mystery of Christ and Peter writes:

"Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiringwhat person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven,things into which angels long to look." (I Peter 1:10-12)

The prophets didn't understand what they wrote, but they longed to know the truths we far too often take for granted. The angels didn't understand how God could be so long-suffering with sinful man. His plan was hidden even from them. Yet, as God made known His will, the manifold wisdom of God was put on display to an ever increasing chorus of Angelic worship.

This sermon works on so many levels to expand the heart and the mind. What a gracious Lord we serve! He has permitted sinful man to become redeemed man. He has granted us a stewardship of the gospel and through our transformed lives He fuels the worship of an angelic hosts. 

Listen to this sermon and be encouraged by our gracious God who has not left us to our own devices but has made himself known, to the praise of His glory!