We hope, pray, and work to help our church make an impact in our community. We ask God to use us to bring the good news to those who are outside of Christ, so that they can join us in worshiping him. Do you realize that in Ephesians 3:7–13 Paul writes about the impact that you, his church, make to angelic beings in the highest heavens?
Understand the unsearchable riches. The riches of Christ are beyond tracking out. An African tracker may see things you don’t see. In Ephesians 3:7–13, Paul points you to something that is beyond tracking out. You have experienced God’s love and grace in Christ Jesus. “Unsearchable” means beyond tracking out—you cannot fully understand how and why it reached you. However, rejoice that it has! These riches include the mystery, formerly hidden, but now revealed, that in Christ the Gentiles have been brought near. Keep those riches in mind as you prepare to come to the Lord’s Table.
“Now this secret has been revealed to us–to us whose salvation from sin and death and Satan required nothing less than the death of God the Son in our flesh. Neither Old Testament prophets nor wise men neither archangels nor seraphim, possessed the plumb line to sound the depths of such a plan of divine grace. But we know. We have been told. We have been enlightened…. There is no creature in heaven or earth more privileged than the humblest believer who has come to understand the depth of this great mystery.”
Sinclair Ferguson, Let’s Study Ephesians, p. 83)
God’s powerful grace makes you a servant. As you plumb the depths of God’s grace, you are moved to serve. The more aware you are of your sin, the more you see the humility of the Servant, the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ. And the more you are united to him, the more serving, the more Christ-like, you become. Paul could count it a privilege to serve the Gentiles and to suffer for them. He saw himself as least, because he had been a persecutor of the church. Look for ways to serve the body in which Christ has placed you. Search for opportunities to reflect Christ’s compassion in a suffering, sin-cursed world.
Approach God with confidence. God’s mystery has been made known in the heavenlies. This mystery has been unfolding on earth. It was part of God’s plan from eternity, but it was revealed in the incarnation, in the public ministry of Christ, but especially in his death and resurrection. In Isaiah 41 God assures his people of his protecting presence. What Isaiah anticipated has come to reality in the entry of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. Now, for Paul as an apostle in the post-Pentecost church, that mystery is being seen every time a Gentile comes to faith in Christ, and every time someone’s life becomes more conformed to that of the Savior. God’s grace in justification and sanctification is being revealed. But then Paul gives you a glimpse behind the scenes. He reminds you, as the book of Job does, that there is a heavenly dimension to this.
“What comes as something of a surprise is that the unveiling of God’s mystery and wisdom is not (only) made on earth (cf. 6:19) but ‘to the rulers and authorities in the high-heavenlies.”… The passive ‘made known’ assumes that God is the one making his mystery and wisdom known to the celestial powers, but he uses an intermediary expressed in the phrase ‘through the church.’ One might expect the revelatory mediators to be ‘apostles and prophets’ (and teachers: 3:5; 4:11), but it is in the church’s existence as a multicultural and mutiethnic body dwelling in unity that the church witnesses to the power of the new creation. This activity implies the critical fact that the earthly gatherings of God’s people have a vital link with Christ in his high-heavenly exaltation, to where believers too have been raised and seated (2:6). Hence, the church is in essence both earthly and heavenly and is linked as a body to Christ its head through the Holy Spirit (Matt 18:10; Heb 12:22–24; Rev. 1:13, 20; 2:1).”
S. M. Baugh, Ephesians, pages 242– 243
“Rulers and authorities” can refer to satanic powers, Ephesians 6:12. But the angels, the unfallen supernatural beings, are also concerned with the glorious mystery of Christ’s redeeming work, 1 Peter 1:12–13. There is a connection between what is happening on earth and what is going on in heaven. One of the reasons for the revelation of the revelation of the riches of Christ, riches which are beyond tracking out, is so that the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms might see God’s work. It is not the apostles and prophets through whom the wisdom of God is displayed in the heavenlies, but through the church. As the church is built up, as those who were aliens and rebels come to join in worshiping the true God, there is rejoicing in heaven. See Hebrews 12:22–24 for a description of what happens when you worship. Be cautious about speculation, but remember, that it doesn’t all revolve around you!
Through faith approach God with freedom. God’s eternal purpose has unfolded in Jesus, our Lord, verse 11. He has done his Father’s will. He has carried out his Father’s plan. In John 17 Jesus prayed, affirming that he had redeemed those given him by his Father. You are summoned to trust him. By faith you are united to him. Are you wondering if your sins are too great to be forgiven? Is there something in your past that hangs over your life? Paul assures you that as you trust in Christ, there is not barrier so big that it will keep you from God’s presence. Now approach God with freedom and confidence. Do come, come more often than you do. Come with a deeper appreciation of the depths of God’s love to you in Christ Jesus.
The riches of what God has done for you in Christ are so mysterious that no tracker can find the footprints, can trace out the course of God’s working. But you can affirm with all your heart, “Christ Jesus is here. He is my Lord and my God. He has redeemed me and all his people.” That is good news here on earth. And it is news that impresses even the angels in heaven!