The Mystery of the Church

One of the reasons why Christians have problems that they can't get out of is because they do not understand their position in Christ. Dr. Tony Evans says understanding your position in Christ unlocks access to the power of Christ. If God's power can get you up out of the grave, it can sure stop you from stuff that's taking you to the grave. This is the alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr.

Tony Evans.

Sometimes the best parts of a story are the ones you never saw coming. Today, Dr. Evans explores the mystery of the church, revealing God's plan for uniting people from every background into one body in Christ. Let's join him for a look at how this divine mystery has become our everyday mission. This word mystery, let me define it and then we'll go through these verses in summary fashion.

It's fundamentally a sacred secret. A sacred secret that is unknown to unbelievers. but available to be known and treasured by believers. It's a secret that God has unveiled about his people and this new creation called the church. I want you to notice that Paul calls himself in verse 1 the prisoner of Christ Jesus.

Now, that's a very important phrase. He is called the prisoner of Christ Jesus.

Now he's in a Roman prison when he writes this book. And one of the groups that's helped get him in a Roman prison are the Jews.

So he's been incarcerated by Jews and Gentiles, yet he never saw himself as a prisoner of man. He only saw himself as a prisoner of God, even when he's in jail.

Now, the reason I want to point that out. is that when you are in the will of God, And negative things happen. Don't spend too much time looking at your circumstances. He was in the will of God, yet he was in prison. But rather than saying, I'm a prisoner of the Jews or I'm a prisoner of the Gentiles, what did he say?

I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Because when you're in the will of God and negative things happen, those negative things happen with God's purposes in mind. Or to put it in the words of Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good to them that love God and are called according to his purposes. If you don't believe me, ask Joseph, who was in prison for 13 years, hadn't done anything wrong, but he was right, smack, dab in the will of God, and God was preparing him to become king.

So if you're in the will of God and you're caught in the circumstance now, don't look to your left, don't look to your right, don't look in front, don't look in back, look up. If you are in the will of God, your negative circumstances abound to the purposes of God. And we'll see that in a moment. The first five verses of this chapter Discuss the communication of this mystery. He says in verse 2, if indeed you have heard, heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you.

That by revelation, God revealing himself, there was made known to me the mystery. As I wrote, Before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ. Which in every other generation was not made known to the sons of men as it has been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. What Paul here says is that God supernaturally revealed to him this mystery of his stewardship.

Now we've been talking a lot about stewardship, and the word stewardship means to manage something or to be the trustee of something. Everybody is a steward who's a Christian of that which God deposits in your care. And God has deposited to every person one of three things: He's deposited time. Everybody here has time because you're still alive. He's deposited talents.

Those are abilities that he has given you. And the third thing that God has deposited to everybody is treasures. That is physical resources. The key to the understanding this concept is that this stewardship that God has given you and has given me is to be used to benefit others and to glorify God. That is the concept of a stewardship.

You are a manager of time, a manager of talent, and a manager of treasure. What God had done for this Jewish man... Who sought to kill, slander. Bring about the death, the destruction of Christianity. was to call him to be the leader of Christianity.

Now I call that grace. If anybody deserved to die, it should have been Paul. He was crucifying Christians. He was the one destroying the church. But on the Damascus road, God not only saved him.

But flipped him around and turned him into the leader of the very thing he was crucifying. That's grace. And that shows you how much grace there is with God. Not only will He deliver you from your mess. He may turn around and use you.

to deal with the very thing he was leading you out of. It's supernatural grace. And that's why you want to understand grace. Because when you grasp grace, that means it's super abundant grace. In fact, God has so much grace for you, you can't even think enough concepts in your puny mind.

And my puny mind to come up with all God can do in and through you when you understand His grace. One of the questions you want to ask God, brothers and sisters, is: Lord, what is my grace? What is the thing you have dispensed on me? Whatever God graces you for. He enables you for.

That's a good secret. Whatever he's calling you to do, he enables you to do. He never calls. and does not equally equip. Remember Moses?

Moses, God said, go tell Pharaoh, let my people go. Moses said, I can't talk. I have a stammering tongue. I can't talk. You meant to call Aaron.

My brother. And you know what God said to him? He said, Moses, who made your tongue? Who made your mouth? Who makes the dumb to speak and the lame to walk?

And then when he got to Pharaoh, guess what? He could talk. Because God never calls you by his grace without equipping you. Paul had really been equipped before he even got saved because God had made him one of the most brilliant men in Israel. He was one of the most brilliant men in Israel, according to Philippians chapter 3.

But now God was using that brilliance for his purposes and not using that brilliance for Paul's own purposes.

So he had given him the revelation of this mystery. But what was the content? Verse 6. To be specific, he says. that the Gentiles R.

Fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus. What's the key word in that verse? Fellow! That's the word that's repeated, fellow. Fellow heirs means your legal status before God as part of his chosen people.

You see, only the Jews were the chosen people. The Gentiles were legally outside of the realm. They could not become citizens. By and large. But now they have a legal status with the Jews.

He says, fellow members of the body, in other words. Indistinguishable in God's eyes. Fellow partakers. Partake to take something. What that means is they had everything that any other Jew now had.

Now that was staggering. Any Jew who heard that would have, that's why it was such a problem. Jews were upset when Gentiles become Christians because what that meant is, you're my equal. Yeah. You my equal, you weren't born a Jew.

We're not equal. What God did was broke through there and broke down years of hostility, years of division. He wants them to grasp this because this is going to affect your being able to get to your riches. You ever had money in the bank, needed to get money in the bank, and couldn't get to the bank? That's where a lot of Christians are.

God has got your spiritual bank account. And you can't get to the bank. Because you have to understand this concept, Paul is saying, and that is our fellow relationship. Key word is fellow. That the Gentiles could tap into being sons of Abraham.

In fact, that's what Galatians 3.29 says, that Christians have become sons or heirs of Abraham. And of course, Abraham was the mechanism through which all the blessings come. Let me look at these three phrases again. Fellow heirs refers to your legal status. But you are now legal.

Secondly. Fellow members of the body of Christ. That is indistinguishable in God's eyes. You know what you are? You are a fellow member of the body.

A fellow member of the body. To put it another way, you all have the same genes. divine genes if you've been born again. If you've been born by the blood of Jesus Christ, I don't care what the color of your skin is, your genetic makeup is the same because your DNA was planted by the Spirit of God when you were born into the family of God. You have a divine DNA.

And for anybody in this room, or anybody in any room. to think you are better than somebody else. Means You don't know who you are and you don't know who they are because how are you going to be better than somebody else when both of you have the same daddy? When you are born again into the family of God, you have the same Papa. When I pray And you pray, and we pray at the same time, we've got the same attention from the same Father.

The moment, listen to me, the moment. You have a wrong view of yourself.

So watch this. It will affect whether you can make a withdrawal out of your spiritual bank account. That's why Romans 12:3 says, Let not a man think of himself more highly than he ought to think. Be proud of what God has made you. Don't apologize for what God has made you, but don't think you're better than anybody else.

You know what you are? A sinner saved by grace. That's it. On your best day, that's all you are. How about your birthday?

Okay? The day you're on top of the world, you are a sinner saved by grace. That's it. That truth levels the playing field and opens the door to something beautiful. As Dr.

Evans continues, we'll see how spiritual equality gives every believer full access to God. First, though, I want to let you know that the lesson we're hearing today is part of an insightful series from Dr. Evans called Ordinary Holy, Finding God in the Mundane. This complete two-volume, 16-part collection walks you through the book of Ephesians, showing how God's power and purpose aren't limited to the big, dramatic moments of life, but can transform the ordinary into something extraordinary. We'd love to send you the complete series of messages as our way of saying thanks when you make a contribution to help support the ministry of the alternative.

And for a limited time, we'll also include Tony's book, Kingdom Living, a practical guide to growing your faith and living out your identity in Christ every single day. This special double offer Will only be available for a limited time, so be sure to visit us at tonyevans.org to request your copy of Ordinary Holy and Kingdom Living. You'll find the details of the offer right on our homepage, or call us at 1-800-800-3222 and let a member of our resource team help you out. I'll repeat that contact information for you after part two of today's message. Here's Tony.

All of us have equal access to the bank. I don't have any more access to heaven than you do. You don't have any more access to heaven than I do because we can partake equally. And you know the good thing about being Christian? God doesn't take from me to give to you.

See, I don't have to be jealous that if you get a hold of God, you're going to get something because what your something is won't mess with my something. And what my something is, won't mess with your something. Because, guess what? When you're God's child, what's yours is yours. What's mine is mine.

And so he wants to talk about this union because it's critical because without the union, there is no access to the riches. He says it introduces us, this concept of the church introduces us to a whole new power, verse 7, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was, see that word grace again, which was given to me according to the working of his power. The Greek word for working is where we get our English word energy from. The same power that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead is available for daily living in the life of the believer. And that's why.

Any Christian who says that they can't do Something that God says you can do is calling God a liar. One of the reasons why Christians have problems that they can't get out of. Can. I'm using that word can. is because they do not understand their position in Christ.

So they believe satanic lie. Oh, I can't, I can't, I can't. That's a lie. Paul says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. If God's power can get you up out of the grave, It can sure stop you from stuff that's taking you to the grave.

So the content of the mystery is this new relationship with one another and our collective relationship with Christ in whom is hidden everything. Third thing. The concern of the mystery is what I call it. Verse 10, in order that. Why is God exposing this mystery now?

In order that The manifold. The Greek word for manifold means multicolored. That's what manifold means. the multicolored wisdom of God. might be made known.

through the church to the rulers and the authorities in heavenly places. And it's deep. God wants to teach angels something. Rulers and authorities refer to angels. God wants to teach angels a lesson.

And the way it's going to teach angels is the church. He says, through the church. to the spiritual realm. or the angelic realm or heavenly places.

Now, why would God up there Come down here to teach something back up there. Because God decided to show how really magnificent He is. And the way He decided to show how magnificent He is was to create lower creatures who would teach greater creatures lessons to let the greater creatures even know that God is so great. That God doesn't even have to do stuff Himself. He can come down and create something less that will teach something greater more.

God wants to so work in our lives that we teach angels a lesson so that even the good angels learn what it is when you're dependent upon God. Because the good angels have never rebelled.

So the good angels, they don't know anything about grace because they've never needed grace in the sense of forgiveness and redemption. The bad angels can't get grace because there's no forgiveness offered to the demons.

So they don't have this experience.

So God works through us to teach the bad angels you shouldn't have rebelled and to teach the good angels you're smart for not rebelling. We become the vehicles.

Now let me this gets deeper. And the way it gets deeper is... See, the Bible says That the angels constantly Look into the faith of God. To receive information, to receive instruction, Isaiah 6. All day long, 24 hours a day, they look into the face of God.

Because they're waiting, the good angels are waiting for a word from God. But you see, God will not give the word to angels. until he's gotten the word from the church. Because verse 10 says he works through the church. To the angels.

So they're looking in God's face, waiting for instruction. God is looking here, waiting for. Dependency. He wants to hear from us. That's why prayer is so important.

Prayer activates the decisions of God.

Now, prayer does not rule God. God is still God, but God has decided certain things he will not do apart from the commitment of his children. That's why he says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, if my people who call by my name shall humble themselves and pray, then I will heal the land. God will respond to his people and say, okay, angels, they are calling on me.

So I tell you what, let's do. Gabriel, I want you to go over to Jack's house. And Michael, I want you to go over Betty's house. And so-and-so. I want you to go and you take care of this matter and you take care of that matter.

And the angels say, Yeah, and they're dispersed to take care of matters in our lives because God is working through the church.

So does your angel never get the move? Hello. But this also underscores why the church is so important. It really is. People say, well, I don't have to go to church.

Well, you're right. You don't have to go to church to become a Christian. But that's like saying I don't ever have to go home to be married. That's true. You don't have to go home to be married, but it does make for a better relationship if you show up.

Yeah. Let's make for a little better harmony. Whenever you are Extricated from the church, listen to me, you're extricated on some level from fellowship with God. Because the whole point of this thing was fellow heirs. Fellow partakers, fellow members.

God doesn't have one kid and you it. He has a family of children.

So once you say, I don't want to be connected with the family, you have insulted the father.

So that's why church is important. And that's why certain things God won't do for you apart from. your part in the family of God, in the church. Finally. The confidence of the mystery.

The confidence. He says in verses 11 through 13, This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So this doesn't just start when you were born. This goes back to before anything was born. Eternal purpose. In whom we have, watch this now, boldness.

Okay. and confident access through faith in him. Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulation, because they were upset, Paul was in jail, on your behalf, for they are your glory. One, we're not an afterthought in God's mind. We're part of the program.

God's work is not to be shackled by culture, class, or physical distinctions. And now you have what he calls Access. You know what access me? You can get in. Where the Tomma?

Turn to Hebrews 4. Verse 14, since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace.

to help us. in time of need. Did you get that? Access. Access means you can strut right into heaven any old time you want.

One, he's always home. Always there. Number two. His day never ends.

So he's always up. He's never yawning. I like Elijah when he was on Mount Carmel and they had the battle of the guards. And Elijah, they were praying to the false gods. Elijah was mocking them.

They said, Whichever God sends down the fire, that's the real God. They say, Okay, they were cutting themselves with knives and stuff, trying to get their God to react. Elijah said, well, oops, maybe he's. On vacation? This is that.

Then Elijah called on the true God. And said, now God, would you show these people? Who you are. And the Bible says, and fire rained down from heaven. Sucked up all the water.

Because God likes to show himself strong. He likes to show. He likes to show off. He just wants to make sure he's going to get the glory. He doesn't want to show off and then say, like the woodpecker.

The woodpecker was pecking at the tree. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, kept pecking at the tree, pecking at the tree, pecking at the tree. While he was pecking at the tree, Lightning struck the tree. Split the tree right in half. Would Pekka say?

Look what I did. That's where a lot of us are. God come through. We tell him, look what I did. God will only show himself strong if he gets the glory.

For he will guess what share his glory with no man No ma'am. No man can usurp God. Paul discovered this mystery. of the church. The most powerful institution in society when it is working right.

And that means fellow heirs, fellow saints, fellow members. A family. that is promoting the kingdom of God. Dr. Tony Evans, wrapping up a message on God's church functioning as it was designed, where believers are united in purpose, identity, and mission.

Today's lesson is part of Tony's series, Ordinary Holy, Finding God in the Mundane. A 16-part look at the book of Ephesians that shows how God works powerfully through even the most ordinary parts of life. For a limited time, when you support the alternative, we'll send you the two-volume audio set as our thank-you gift, along with Tony's encouraging book, Kingdom Living, full of practical ways to grow in your faith and live with greater purpose. This special offer won't last long, so visit tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 to make your request. Again, that's tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222.

Now, before I tell you what's coming up tomorrow, don't forget a new Stories from the Storyteller episode is just a couple of days away. In Big Little Things, Bunny's tiny birthday gift turns into a big blessing, setting the stage for a powerful lesson about the mustard seed and how God grows small things into something great. Discover more about this animated series for kids at tonyevanstv.com. That's tonyevanstv.com. We often ask God to give us strength.

But truth be told, believers already possess it. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans explores the spiritual power God has granted his people. Be sure to join us.