Thursday, September 20, 2018 – Ephesians 6:24

Grace Orientation as noted in the Book of Ephesians, Pt. 3, The Dispensation of Grace. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1qEd0FJyAE

Grace Fellowship Church

Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard

www.GraceDoctrine.org

www.facebook.com/GraceDoctrine

5. The Encouragement, vs. 21-24.  

Eph 6:24, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.”

As we have been noting, “GRACE” is a key word of the epistle. It opened the epistle, Eph 1:2, and is the subject of the epistle, Eph 2:7-8. It now concludes the epistle. It is a fitting word because it is God’s grace which saved us and which sustains us today.

 The word “grace” is used 12 times in the book of Ephesians. Twelve is the number of perfect Divine government and organization. As such, if we want to live under God’s perfect rule and organization for our lives, we must live by His grace. When we live by His grace, we have perfect Divine rule and organization within our souls for our physical and spiritual lives. We continue now with the application of the 12 instances of “grace” in Ephesians.

7. Eph 3:2, “If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you.”

As also noted in Eph 1:10; 3:9, as well as 1 Cor 4:1; 9:17; Col 1:25; 1 Tim 1:4, in this passage, Paul is speaking of the responsibility God gave him to share the mystery doctrines for the Church Age, the Age of Grace, to the world, see vs. 3. Paul had been given “the dispensation of the grace of God” or an “administration of God’s grace,” to communicate what it meant to the Church.

“Dispensation” is the Greek Noun OIKONOMIA, οἰκονομία that literally means, “house manager” and could be translated “stewardship, economy, administration, management, arrangement, plan, task, etc.” The word dispensation comes from two Greek words: OIKOS, meaning “house” and NOMOS, meaning “law.” Our English word “economy” is derived directly from the Greek OIKONOMIA, “the law of the house,” or “a stewardship, a management.”

God had given Paul the responsibility of making known to the world the meaning of the mystery God had revealed to him: the amazing unity of the NT Church found in Christ, with no distinction between Gentiles and Jews. Paul’s responsibility involved explaining God’s grace plan in creating a special people, or a “household” of both Jews and Gentiles, through Christ, Eph 2:19; 3:5-6. Paul’s role was to explain this “mystery,” and the church’s role is to “understand” and then communicate it, vs. 4.

Therefore, we see that the “dispensation” or “age” in which we live is one highly characterized as being of God’s Grace. God could have concluded human history with the closing of the Jewish dispensation, but due to their rejection of the Messiah, and more importantly God’s grace, God chose to establish another “age” for the building of His Church, the body of Jesus Christ signified by the term “grace.”

There are five, (the number of Grace), main Dispensation in the Plan of God for human history. They include:

  1) The Dispensation or Age of Innocent; the time of Adam and the woman in the Garden of Eden.

  2) The Dispensation or Age of the Gentiles; the time from the fall of man to the giving of the Law to Moses and Israel. Many scholars break this dispensation into several time periods including, Pre-Flood, Post-Flood to the Tower of Babel, Babel to Abraham, Abraham to Moses, and other variations.

  3) The Dispensation or Age of the Law; the time from the giving of the Law to Israel to the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection. This Dispensation was interrupted by the Age of Grace, and is to be conclude when the Age of Grace ends.

  4) The Dispensation or Age of Grace, also called the Dispensation of the Church; the time from the Day of Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection to the Rapture of the Church.

  5) The Dispensation or Age of the Millennium; the time from the conclusion of the Tribulation and Second Coming of Jesus Christ until the end of the Millennium, 1,000 years.

See Dispensations of Human History Diagram.

As you know, this mystery was “hidden” or “not made known to people in other generations,” vs. 5; but now it can be understood. It was Paul’s responsibility to communicate this message of grace so that the people of the world, especially Gentiles, Acts 9:15; 26:13-18; Rom 11:13; 15:15-16; Eph 3:8; 1 Tim 2:7, would understand the mystery. Vs. 6, gives a brief summary of some of the mystery doctrines for the Dispensation of Grace that includes:

  a. Gentiles are fellow heirs (with the Jewish believers).
  b. And fellow members of the body (of Jesus Christ).
  c. And fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

While the plan of God was present in the OT, parts were unclear or “hidden” in a sense, vs. 9. But when Christ appeared, the lights came on, clarifying the nature of the Messiah’s death, the fact that Gentiles do not have to become Jews, Gentiles and Jews have equal access to God, and the degree of closeness one has with God in the Age of Grace. Now that these things have been made known, people should know them and celebrate them, and continue to communicate them to a lost and dying world.

God’s principles do not change, but His methods of dealing with mankind do change over the course of history. Augustine wrote, “Distinguish the ages and the Scriptures harmonize.” Therefore, we are to fully understand the Age of Grace in which we live and apply the principles of the mystery doctrine for this age to our lives.

From this, we also see that Grace has as its specific focus the special favor granted Paul in qualifying him to be apostle to the Gentiles. As such, God had a grace plan for Paul’s life, and therefore, God has a grace plan for your life as well. When we understand this and walk in it, we have a Personal Sense of Destiny inside the grace plan of God for our lives.

The grace given to Paul was for the ultimate benefit of the Gentile Christians, as well as Jewish Christians. The grace God gives to you as a Royal Priest and Ambassador of Christ, is for the benefit of the unbelieving and believing of this world, both Gentile and Jew.

8. Eph 3:7, “Of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.”

Here we see that Paul’s stewardship in the administration of the Dispensation of Grace was, “according to the gift of the grace of God.” He realized, as we should too, that to be a servant of God is “the gift of the grace of God.” Paul did not take this honor to himself, but became a servant of the gospel by God’s grace and power, vs. 7; cf. Eph 1:19; 3:16. Thus, Eph 3:1-8 contains seven instances of the words gift, give, or grace, cf. vs. 2, 7-8.

                                                        

With the use of DOREA, δωρεά, “free gift,” cf. Eph 4:7, God’s graciousness is underlined. It is a term also employed by Paul to speak of the generosity of God’s activity in Christ on behalf of humanity, Rom 3:24; 5:15, 17; 2 Cor 9:15. The grace experienced by Paul in his ministry flowed out of the mighty power of God. It was the gift of God’s grace that transformed Saul, the proud Pharisee who persecuted the church, to Paul, the apostle who was now a prisoner for Jesus Christ. God’s transforming grace is also available to you, Rom 12:1.

“The mystery” that Paul was to proclaim, not only gives believing Gentiles a new relationship with God, it also reveals that there is a new power available to us by the grace of God. God’s grace puts us all, (all believers), into ministry in His church, and His power makes it possible for us to fulfill these ministries. There are two Greek words used here to describe this, “working,” ENERGEIA, “working, power, efficiency,” where we get our word “energy” from, and “power,” DUNAMIS, “inherent power, might, ability, or force,” where we get our words “dynamic and dynamite” from.

The power of God which raised Christ from the dead and is at work in believers was also the power operative in transmitting grace to the apostle; as it is toward you and I. Therefore, by God’s grace gift to Paul and to us, we have tremendous responsibility to reveal God’s plan to the world, and God has promised to give us by His Grace the ability or power necessary to carry out that responsibility, Eph 3:16.

Combined with vs. 8, we see two aspects of God’s grace in our lives in reverse order, so that we can be great ambassadors for Christ. In vs. 7, we see God’s empowering grace, and in vs. 8, we see God’s humbling grace. We will note the latter in the next point. Here, in vs. 7, we are noting God’s empowering Grace. The Lord powerfully called Paul on the Road to Damascus, and the Lord’s power continued to sustain him for ministry, Rom 1:5; 12:3; 15:5; 1 Cor 3:10; 2 Cor 12:9; Col 1:29. God’s grace did and does the same for you and me.

By His grace, the mighty power of God, Eph 1:19-20, provides sufficient strength for weak, fragile, ordinary people like us, as we make the glories of Christ known to a lost and dying world.

We also see here that Paul did not make himself a minister, vs. 2; cf. Col 1:23, 25. He did not choose to be an apostle, a missionary, and a martyr as his lifelong career goal. Rather, God’s grace marked Paul as a minister. Likewise, you and I have not chosen to become ambassadors for Christ, but the sovereign grace of God has called us to that position. And, because it was a grace calling, not of your own choice, God provides all the necessary power and energy to be highly successful in performing it.

9. Eph 3:8, “To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.”

The ninth reference to grace in this chapter introduces a further revelation of the mystery with which Paul’s apostleship was uniquely connected. This “humbling grace” was given to him to preach the good news, cf. Gal 1:15-16a.

Gal 1:15-16a, “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…”

In this passage we see that God’s grace had a humbling effect on Paul, and it also had an empowering effect. Instead of boasting about his own abilities and the fact that God had given him such an important position and task, the apostle considered himself an unworthy servant, mainly because prior to his conversion he had persecuted Christ by persecuting His church, Acts 9:5; 1 Cor 15:9; Phil 3:6; 1 Tim 1:13-15.

In spite of his previous position of violently opposing the Church, the grace of God gave Paul the privilege and responsibility of proclaiming to the world the mystery of the Church. He is saying that his own worthlessness did not prevent him from being appointed, the grace of God grabbed him and put him into action; just as it does for us today.

Stopped here in video (continued on Sunday, September 23, 2018

Therefore, if God in His grace could take Paul, “the least and worst of all the saints,” and give him such a great role and responsibility, God can take every one of us and by His grace give us an important and impactful role and responsibility inside the body of Jesus Christ; which He does.

By saying, “the very least of all saints,” Paul is not putting himself down, that would have been false humility, which really is just another form of pride. Rather, he is boasting of God’s great grace in his life, 1 Cor 15:9-10; cf. Gal 1:15-16.

1 Cor 15:9-10, “For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.”

Therefore, we should not present ourselves in self-abasing, false humility type of ways so that others feel sorry for us or think more highly of us. Instead, we are to boast in what Christ has done and is doing for us. He has and is taking a weak and sinful creature and turning him into a powerful spiritual ambassador and warrior.

In the context of this verse, God took a self-righteous arrogant religious “do-gooder” and made him a spiritual warrior and ambassador. God took the “very least” one and did three great things by His grace through him:

·       Eph 3:8b, “Preached to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.”

·     Eph 3:9, “Brought to light the Dispensation of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things.”

·      Eph 3:10, “So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places (the angelic forces).”

Notice in vs. 10, this is accomplished, “through the Church.” That means Paul started it and you and I continue that work in our generation by the power given to us by the Grace of God. And as we noted above, God’s grace had a humbling effect on Paul, and it also had an empowering effect too. What God in His grace did for Paul, He does to and through you and I today, also by His grace. Remember, we do not have to serve Jesus; we get to serve Jesus.

When you view yourself as the “least of all the saints,” you will gladly serve “the least of these,” Mat 25:40. Grace humbles you and causes you to identify with everyone, including the poor and the weak. No one is beneath you. The “least of all the saints” give love, time, and energy to everyone created in God’s image. And as Paul noted in vs. 7, we should realize that we need God’s grace to empower us to do these things.

“This grace was given to me,” not only speaks of God’s empowerment, but many times is speaking of the office itself. In Paul’s case the office of “Apostle to the Gentiles,” which he also called “a grace,” Rom 12:3; 15:15; 1 Cor 3:10; Gal 2:9. This is also seen in the Greek for the “spiritual gifts” we receive at conversion. “Gifts” comes from a cognate of CHARIS, CHARISMA, 1 Cor 12. It is speaking of the spiritual gifts that God has given to us with a ministry and effect by His Grace. We utilize our grace gift through the grace power God provides uniquely to the Church Age believer; His Holy Spirit and His Word. We will see more of this in our next utilization of “grace” in the book of Ephesians.

In conclusion, the goal of God’s grace in Paul’s life was to make him an apostle and empower his gift “to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ.” It was to Paul that grace was given to make these glorious immeasurable riches of Christ known and available to the Gentiles. As we have noted, “the unfathomable riches,” speaks to the plenitude of all Divine glories and perfections which dwell in Christ, the fullness of grace to pardon, to sanctify, and to save; everything which makes Him satisfy the soul of man. Paul, as we, has been graced out to communicate these things to a lost and dying world.