For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles — assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 3:1–6.
One of the most baffling realities I walk through in life is that God asks me, a human, to steward what he has given me. As humans, we are given so much to the basic life that God has created in the womb, from relationships to jobs. All areas of my life are a gift from the Lord, how mysterious. One area that many believers do not consider is our position in the Church at large and our current speck in history.
Whether we know it or accept it, we are carriers and stewards of the Gospel of our beautiful king, Jesus Christ. Paul explains the beauty of serving the king of kings wonderfully in Ephesians 3. Paul reveals that he is a “prisoner” of Christ. Here, he seems to be playing on his actual imprisonment as a metaphor and position of service to Christ for the gentile (Greeks/Non-Jewish) people. Christ imprisons Paul, and his sentence seems to be preaching the Gospel to the world. He explains that he has been asked to be a “steward” of these gentiles, a gift from God (Read Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:25; and 1 Timothy 1:4). That is beautiful. I am not comparing any of us to the Apostle Paul, but I am ushering in consideration of the intensity with which we take our call and election to redeemed grace in Christ Jesus.
Let me clarify. I was saved from death and the power of sin. Jesus has taken the keys to death and Hades (Revelation 1:18), so I have access to eternal life, now and not yet. This is the mystery that Paul explains in Ephesians 3. Paul was given a mystery, but we have the privilege of living in the post-Pauline apostleship era. We are blessed to know these mysteries through the Holy Spirit, which inspired Paul to write and the Scriptures to be canonized. We live in a time of accumulated knowledge. We live in a time where we can use our new birth to be a blessing to our church family and the community at large. We are not Paul but Pauline (2 Corinthians 3:3). He wrote not letters to us but for us. He was intimate with Christ for us. He was an example for us. In all this, Christ came incarnate, lived perfectly, died and resurrected, and ascended all for us. If it is for us, then what is our response to that beautiful action? If we are Pauline, then our natural response is to continue his ministry, taking the Gospel to our community and building our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.
We have answers to a mystery, and his name is Jesus Christ, God the son, whom we can also be imprisoned. We will never be as apostolic as Paul, but we carry on his gift that he stewarded unto death. We are to be stewards as well. We have the same Gospel. We have the same Triune God. We have the same earth. We have the same essence. We can only differ in our response to the Gospel message and how far we allow it to carry us and lead us through this life. Be encouraged that you are the same partaker with the same promises upon your life and a part of the same body, the church. But consider how you can bless your brothers and sisters at your local church. Consider how you can bless your community by being the salt and light. Steward the gift of life and fellow heirs in Christ Jesus.
Brady Roser is lead pastor at The Bridge Church.