Lessons from Prison
Close to the Mexican border in southern New Mexico you can find the Grand Floridas. That is a rugged mountain range with jagged sharp edges and rock formations jutting up out of the ground. Looking from the north, it appears to be one gigantic, unbroken rock sculpture dropped onto an otherwise flat New Mexico landscape.
If you ride up to the mountains on horseback, you will see that they are not unbroken. The head of the range is a rock formation that rises higher than a skyscraper. Between that the main mountain range is a large valley filled with beautiful grassland and gentle slopes that are completely hidden from the distance. Until you get close, you have no idea that it is even there.
The same can be seen in certain events in the Bible. It seemed that for thousands of years God kept a secret, hidden from the world, from the angels, from the priests, from the prophets, and from the people of Israel. It seems that He kept this secret close to His heart and revealed it only through His Son to the apostles. That secret, what Paul calls a mystery, is that there was to be a new creation, a new living temple, a new spiritual body that God would use to carry the message of salvation to the ends of the world. This new creation would be comprised of both Jews and Gentiles alike. This new creation is called the church.
1 For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— 2 you have heard, haven’t you, about the administration of God’s grace that He gave to me for you? 3 The mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have briefly written above. 4 By reading this you are able to understand my insight about the mystery of the Messiah. 5 This was not made known to people in other generations as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: 6 The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 7 I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of His power. (Ephesians 3:1-7)
Lack of Freedom Requires Creativity
Paul shares with the church in Ephesus that he is writing this letter to them from prison. Rather than mope around while a prisoner, Paul uses his time to instruct and encourage the many churches that he helped to start throughout the Mediterranean region. Paul understood that the lack of freedom did not mean the end of his ability to minister to those he lead to Jesus. In this part of his letter Paul explains that he has already written some about what he calls a mystery in the earlier part of his letter.
Paul wants us to understand that this mystery was not only revealed to him, but to all of the New Testament apostles and prophets. Jesus first mentions this new revelation of the church.
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But you,” He asked them, “who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
17 And Jesus responded, “Simon son of Jonah, you are blessed because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the forces of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 18:13-18)
Paul continues to explain that this mystery was revealed to him because of the grace of God through Jesus Christ. Not because Paul is some great person of faith.
8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of the Messiah, 9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. 10 This is so God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. 11 This is according to His eternal purpose accomplished in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord. (Ephesians 3:8-11)
Great Things Don’t Require Great People
Paul believes that he was the least of all the saints. The term saint has often been misunderstood as to represent only some great follower of Jesus. Some religions teach that to be a saint you must have performed some type of miracle and that the church must recognize your authority in order to confer on you the title of saint. But the bible makes it clear that a saint is anyone that believes and follows Jesus. If you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you are a saint.
You don’t have to be a great person with excellent skills and abilities to do great things for God. You just have to be willing to do things for God and great things will happen. Why? Because God is great enough to accomplish great things through us regardless of our education, people skills, talents, or lack thereof.
Paul, through true humility, believed that he was truly the least of all of the saints. I believe that it was because of this humility that Paul was used so powerfully by God. Humility is not something that comes easy to leaders. Too often we see pride and arrogance creep in when someone is doing great things. Paul understood that anything he did was actually done through the power and authority of God. It was not by his own might, but by the power of God.
Why was God using him? To shed light on this great mystery of the ages. Paul would not hold this a secret but share it with all so that God’s wisdom could be made known through the church. Even while he was in prison he would continue to tell others about the great love of Jesus for all people: Jew and Gentile. And all of this, like everything we see God doing, is according to His plan so that He can receive all glory and honor.
12 In Him we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. 13 So then I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory. (Ephesians 3:12-13)
Be Confident and Bold While in Chains
In Him, in God, we have boldness. It doesn’t seem that many followers of Jesus really understand or believe this. If we really believed that we have boldness because of God, we would not be afraid to tell others about Jesus. If we really believed that God gives us boldness, we would not walk around feeling defeated about anything in life. Not even laws that limit our ability to tell others about Jesus would should matter. If we understood the power behind the boldness of God, we would stand strong every day in the confidence that God has given to us.
This is what Paul wants us to understand. God's plan of salvation purposed before the world and executed in the cross clears the path to God. Through Christ a person can enter God's presence with freedom and confidence. The cross has provided salvation which cleanses us of sin, forgives us, makes us holy, and thus enables us to enter the presence of the Holy One.
That accessibility to God should give us reason to be bold. We have 24/7 access to God and since there is nothing that can overpower or defeat God, then nothing that happens in life should have any power over us. We can be bold and confident.
Paul finishes this part of his letter by explaining that because of this boldness in God, we should have no reason to be discouraged. The eternal plan accomplished in Christ was administered in many ways. This included Paul becoming a prisoner and proclaiming this message while in chains. Paul's situation in prison could easily discourage young churches and turn them away from Jesus for fear that they may also be imprisoned.
Paul urged the Ephesians not to let this happen. His suffering was no reason for sadness. It helped accomplish God's plan. Through Paul's suffering the Ephesian believers gain glory, that is they are led to know Christ more intimately and experience salvation more fully. When we are weak, God is strong. Paul is saying that we are to be strong in the Lord and trust in His mighty power.
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