Proclaiming The Revelation Of The Mystery Of God's Grace

I have you stand in honoring the word of God.

Turn to Jeremiah 1, verses 4 through 10,

627 in your pew Bible.

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

And before you were born, I consecrated you.

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Then I said, oh Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.

The Lord said to me, do not say I am only a youth, for to all whom I send you,

you shall go.

And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.

Then the Lord put his hand and touched my mouth.

And the Lord said to me, behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break down,

to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

The New Testament reading this morning is in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 15.

We'll be reading from verses one through 11.

If you would like to read along, that will be page 1222 in your pew Bibles.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved.

If you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our

sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,

and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the 12.

Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still

alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of

God.

But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Whether then it was I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.

You may be seated.

Let's pray together.

Well, good morning.

Thank you for your singing.

What a delight to worship our Savior together on this Lord's Day.

I ask you to open up your Bibles to Ephesians 3, please,

the third chapter of Ephesians, as we go forth

in our study.

Ephesians 3, we'll start to look at 7 through 12 or 13.

Now, though, if I'm gonna be honest with you, we're not gonna get through it all, but I will start in verse one.

We'll read through for context.

So Ephesians chapter three, verse one.

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.

And 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 his prophets by the Spirit.

And this mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of

the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, and

that's through the gospel.

So it's of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was

given me by the working of his power.

To me, though I'm the very least of all the saints, this grace was given

to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring

to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God,

who created all things, so that through the church and the manifold wisdom of God

might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in

whom, in Christ, we have boldness and access with confidence through our

faith in him.

So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.

Oh, God in heaven, what a beautiful thing that we can have boldness to approach you.

Lord, we consider our sin, and we would think, Lord, that surely if we can approach you at

all, we must do it in complete fear

and expecting you not to accept us, but rather to smash us.

But instead, because Jesus Christ and his righteousness, for those who have faith in him, we can

access you now and come before you now and worship boldly.

Lord, with holy, reverent awe of you and your work of grace that you have performed in the world

from the death and resurrection of Christ these 2 ,000 years, all the way now to our own age,

this beautiful work and tapestry of grace that has come down, it's

even come down on us individually.

Lord, we have our own individual stories of the word of God being proclaimed to us individually,

and your grace has enabled us to respond.

And we know that it's because this gospel has been faithfully proclaimed by the apostles and those who came

after.

And Lord, so now here we are.

We have the gospel.

We have the word.

We have received this revelation, this apostolic doctrine.

And so help us to be like the apostles in which we minister this gospel to ourselves, to each other, and to those

around us.

Lord, help us not to grow lazy.

Let us not be afraid.

Let us not shrink back because of suffering.

But let us rather, like Paul, see this as a great gift from you to proclaim the excellencies

of Jesus to the world, to the Gentiles, to all those around us.

Thank you for this purpose, and may you be glorified now in our worship.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Well, it's a very natural feeling or desire within

man, within humanity, to desire to, or to want to hear big and good news.

If you ever notice in your life, whenever someone has big and good news, it's something that's desirable.

You want to hear it.

You want to be connected with it.

You want to hear the message from the lips of those who have big and good news.

It's a natural thing to want to be in on it.

In fact, the earlier the better.

There's just something about it that we like.

And Paul has emphasized that with his suffering as a steward of God's grace.

He's emphasized the fact that don't lose heart over my sufferings.

It's because I have heard the greatest, or I have received the greatest revelation ever, and

that is that the Gentiles, the world, has a way to be with the Father through Jesus.

You see, Paul was given as the apostle one of the first generations of the revelation revealed to him.

And so he's, you remember, as we talked about last week, he says, so don't suffer or don't lose heart over my suffering as

I have received the greatest of all news.

And indeed, we can understand that it is a delightful thing to hear big and good news.

And Paul's saying I have received the greatest of all news.

I've received the greatest of all revelations.

And so therefore, don't lose heart over my suffering because I've received that revelation.

And it's also natural in us to not only hear news, good news or revelation,

but also it's natural in us that we love to give good news, don't we?

We love to give good and big news.

We like to be one of the first to declare it to people who don't know.

There's just something natural in us where we like to hear, receive revelation, and we also love to declare

good news to those who will receive it as good.

It's just something that's naturally within us.

And so here now, in these verses before us, not only is Paul saying that I've received revelation, which I'm

suffering because of that revelation, but also I'm suffering because I am a minister or I

declare this revelation to the world, which again is something that's just naturally in us,

humanity, that we love to give good news.

And so his suffering, as he looks around him, is because he gets to participate in

declaring this good news to the world.

And that is the revelation given to the apostles 2 ,000 years ago was always meant to be

declared to the world.

And revelation declared is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The good news that although at one point we were all dead in our sins and had no hope, now through the

gospel there's good news that we can be forgiven through Jesus.

And this revelation declared is called the gospel.

And Paul underlines that and says I'm a minister, I'm a steward of that

gospel to the world.

And so since it's such a natural thing to want to hear good and wonderful news, it is natural as to want to declare this

good and wonderful news, good news, and so it is only natural that we would, even with suffering,

say it is good suffering because I've received it and I get to declare it.

And it's as we're looking at these verses now about ministering or giving or proclaiming

the gospel, we're gonna make notes on what it means to be a minister, what the office of the minister

is.

And it can be very easy for us as we're looking at the context here to see it's just as the apostle Paul

and him being a minister, so therefore it has nothing to do with us today.

But before we even begin, I want to press upon you that certainly the direct context is the apostle

and the apostle is the first minister, but it has implications for all of us that we need to see here.

Certainly the apostles were the first receivers and proclaimers of the revelation of the gospel.

But now today, generations have gone by, now the pastors carry on that

apostolic message to the next generation.

And so pastors carry on a certain authority within the church as we proclaim this gospel to the

congregation, to the world.

But it doesn't just stop with that to where there's implications for pastors, for elders, but also the congregation,

you in the pews.

You are to be ministers of the gospel as well wherever you find yourself in your own corner

of the world.

And so as we see Paul as an apostle, as a steward of grace, as a minister of the

gospel, we need to see that there's implications for pastors and for each one of us who call upon the name of the

Lord that we are to minister the gospel as well.

So as we see his describing of what a minister is, we'll see these implications

as they play out.

And I wanna kind of break it down.

So from verses seven to 12, we're gonna see when it comes to the office of the minister of

proclaiming the gospel, right?

We'll see in verse seven, from where and how this office comes.

And we'll see in verses eight and nine, what the minister does.

And we'll see in verse 10, the result of the minister's labors.

And we'll see in verses 11 and 12, the sure success of the minister.

So let's begin.

Look at verse seven again.

Paul says, of this gospel, I was made, not only was he to receive the revelation in which

there's great benefit to that, which gives meaning to his suffering, but he says, I was also of this gospel made a

minister.

And look where it comes from.

He says, according to the gift of God's grace.

So where does it come from?

Well, it comes from God as a gift of his grace.

And so Paul, if you look in verse three, he says, I am a steward of God's

grace.

And now here in verse seven, he says, I'm a minister or a steward by God's grace.

So not only does he steward or minister the grace of God, but he is that by the very grace

of God itself.

So he ministers it and he is that by the same grace.

So Paul's labors for the gospel was not a gift for God,

but rather it was a gift from God.

So a minister, the office and everything that entails is a gift from God to you.

To do the work of a minister, whatever capacity it is, it is a gift of God to you, not a

gift that you do for God.

Paul ministers the grace and he's won by grace.

And so we can consider, again, the context of this has to do with suffering.

If you remember, he says, don't lose heart over my suffering because of these great things I get to be as an

apostle, as a receiver of the revelation, as a giver of revelation.

Remember that the context is I'm suffering, but don't lose heart.

And so we can see that suffering hits different depending how you view where

your ministry comes from.

You see what I mean?

If your ministry is a gift to God, then suffering will cause you

to erode your gifts.

If you're doing your work as a proclaimer of the gospel, as a gift to God, as something that you're doing for God, well,

when suffering comes and it gets hard and difficult, that might cause you to no longer give such a good gift.

It might erode that gift to your God since it comes forth from you to him.

But if ministry is a gift from God to you, saying I am gonna give you a

ministry and this is a gift from me to you, then suffering becomes part

of that gift.

It becomes part and parcel of that gift itself.

So as you view suffering in light of your ministry, you say this is part of the gift that God has given me.

It causes you to look at suffering a little different.

And no longer does it erode your service in that ministry, but instead it becomes

part of that ministry.

And so like Paul says, do not lose heart over my suffering.

Remember what lose heart means.

Don't stop.

Continue to go forth.

And so if we look, as Paul does, a ministry, the ministry that he has as a gift from God, suffering just becomes

part of that gift.

It becomes manifold in that gift.

But instead if it's rather this is a gift I do for God, then it'll just simply cause us to lose heart.

I had that chicken coop analogy last week.

I'll use it again.

But you remember I said to be a, to be a, I keep on wanting to say shepherd, to be a steward

of something or to be a minister of something, it's similar, it's not the same word, but it's similar thinking.

To be a steward of something means that someone has given you something to take care of.

Remember what I said.

And I talked about the chicken coop.

That's my chicken coop.

It's my money, it's my resources.

I made it and then I give it to my children to take care of.

And if they see that operation of taking care of that chicken coop as a gift that they're doing for me,

whenever it gets hard and difficult, because it does get difficult to clean that mess and everything like that, they will, I'll

notice, get a little lazy.

The energy given to the ministry or to that chicken coop becomes laxy daisy.

But whenever I, and I try to impress this upon them, this is a gift that God has given you to do, to contribute to the family,

contribute to us, right?

This is a gift that we are giving to you.

All of a sudden, suffering or hardships of that becomes just part of it and they work through it.

So it's very important how we view our ministry.

It is a gift from God, so therefore, the suffering that comes forth from it, it just, it becomes part of that

gift.

And so we remember we talked about implications, not just as the apostle of a minister, but also there's implications of a pastor being a

minister of the gospel.

And far too often, pastors quit because of suffering as ministers of the gospel.

And in our own day and age, the suffering is not involved with persecutions on the outside, sadly, but

rather the sheep get a little bitey, typically, if you look at in America, it's not so much the wolves

that are the issue, it's the persecution of the government and everything like that.

But typically, the suffering of a pastor is the sheep just get a little too feisty, right?

And what happens is a lot of times, pastors will quit because the sheep bite.

And the question has to be, why are you quitting because of that?

Why would you quit because of that?

Is it because the pastor looks at his ministry as a gift to God?

And so when the sheep bite, he says, I'm out of here.

But rather, ministry is a gift from God, so therefore, the biting sheep just become part of that

blessed work.

And we can have implications for congregants, for people, for you in the pew, as

you are ministers in some capacity as well of the gospel.

Be prepared to suffer when ministering the gospel.

Coworkers will think you're a little weird.

Family members may not want to be associated with you as they're willing to be associated with others.

I always say, you know, Sarah and I, if you're blessed to be part of a family that's enriched in

Christ, praise God, but not all of us are blessed that way.

And so you need to be willing, if you are a sore thumb in your family, that the family will love getting

together, but they won't be so desiring to get together with you always because you're kind of a

weirdo.

And so being a minister of the gospel many times comes with suffering all around, right?

And if we attach it because this is a gift God has given me, then it gives meaning to that suffering.

You're able to not lose heart.

Now, I must say, don't purposely be a weirdo, but in your ministry of the gospel, it just comes with the territory.

And if you see it as a gift from God, then it becomes just part of that gift.

And so we can see here, the office of a minister, where does it come forth from?

It comes forth from God as a gift of his grace to you.

And that's how you need to consider the ministry.

It is a gift from God.

And look at what else he says in verse seven.

He talks about how the gift comes to the minister.

He says in verse seven, he says, according to the gift of God's grace, which, and this is how, was given to me,

an apostle, Paul, by the working of his power.

So it comes, the work of the ministry comes to the minister by a gift

from God and by his power alone.

God's power, right?

The contrast being not the minister's power, not Paul's power, even though he's an apostle, not his power, but rather

the ministry comes to him as God's power to him.

And if you can think about, just continue on this thought, if I believe my ministry is a gift to

God, then I'll rely upon my power to do it.

And that tank will run empty very quickly.

But rather, if my ministry, the ministry that I have, is a gift from God, then I'll

rely upon God's power to receive it and to do it.

And that tank won't run empty or dry.

And so we see that it comes as a gift from God through his power.

And remember the context, do not lose heart.

Do not lose heart in light of suffering, especially in light of suffering for Christ and the ministry that we have in Christ.

If you are relying on your own power, you won't have much in the tank to persevere.

There is, again, talking about, again, not just the ministry of the apostle, not just the ministry of a pastor, but the

ministry of every single individual Christian, something that I hear quite often is that

people fail to minister in their own realm because they

fail to minister the gospel in their own realm because they feel too weak to do it, right?

I just don't have the words to say, right?

I can't do it as well as John MacArthur on TV or

as a pastor out behind the pulpit.

I am too weak to do it, and so therefore, it causes you to be inactive in your

ministry.

And the response to that is good.

You ought to feel weak.

You ought to feel like this is a power that I cannot do.

How can I be a minister of the gospel in any capacity?

I don't have the strength to do it.

And so therefore, you're on a good first step.

That's a good first step to feel weak as Paul felt weak as he realized that the ministry comes from

God's power, not his own.

But don't let that make you lose heart and not to operate in that ministry, but rather rely upon

the one who isn't too weak.

It is a very dangerous thing to think I am very strong for the ministry that I have in my own workplace, in my own home,

and wherever it may be.

But it is a very blessed place to be to say I am too weak to even take the next step, but there's one who's not.

He gives me that ministry by his power.

I shall rely upon that power.

So if you're losing heart because of any kind of suffering, whether it's self -inflicted suffering, right, know

that it is good to feel weak, but just don't lose heart.

Look to the one who isn't too weak.

Look to the one who the minister comes forth from his power as a gift.

Look to him, and he will enable you.

He'll give you the strength as you're looking to him to be faithful.

I think it's fascinating, Paul, how he talks about the minister

and the needed weakness he must feel.

If a minister feels strong, that is a recipe to heresy and bringing

dishonor to Christ.

And we see that in 2 Corinthians.

I think it's worth looking at that for a few moments.

We see this with the so -called super apostles, he calls them, whether or not they called

themselves that, or if he just uses that as a slam against them.

I kind of like to think that he's slamming them by calling them super apostles.

But he calls them his enemies, right, these people who basically,

as we'll see, they find themselves strong enough.

They find themselves, they are strong.

They're super apostles.

And we see that that is a recipe for heresy.

It's a recipe for disaster in your ministry to feel like you are strong in the ministry.

No, indeed, we must feel weak.

Look at 2 Corinthians 2, verse 14.

The apostle Paul says, but thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in

triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ

everywhere.

For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved

and also among those who are perishing.

To one, a fragrance from death to death.

To the other, a fragrance from life to life.

And here's a good question for this.

Who is sufficient for these things?

You're supposed to be the aroma of Christ.

I hope you think, oh, who is sufficient to be such an aroma of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ?

Paul says, as an apostle, and all the authority given to him, he says, who can possibly be

sufficient to be such a minister of the gospel?

He says in verse 17, as a direct contrast, he says, for we are not like so many peddlers messing

around of God's word, but rather we are men of sincerity as commissioned by God in the sight of God,

we speak in Christ.

So the contrast there is, who is sufficient for these things?

We're not like those who think they're sufficient for these things, who peddle with God's word.

You see, one of the things that you do in your pride whenever you think you are sufficient is you start making the word your own.

But in weakness, you make sure you get the word right.

You don't peddle around with it.

And notice he says in verse four, chapter three, he says, such is the confidence that we have, what, of

ourselves?

No, through Christ toward God.

Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything is coming from us, but our sufficiency

is from God.

And he has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit,

for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

You see that contrast.

The ministry is given, people in their own ways, like the apostles, the pastors, but also every one of us,

and it is given as a gift, and it's given in his power, not yours, in his strength and your weakness.

It is showcased there.

I thought about perhaps not going too much into detail here, but again, I think it's worth it.

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10.

He continues the same theme of the ministry of weakness, of strength, of bad teachers

being strong in their own strength.

Look at 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12.

Again, he's kind of defending himself against these super apostles, these false apostles.

And he says in 2 Corinthians chapter 10, verse 12, he says, not that we dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of

those who are commending themselves, right?

These are the super apostles, the false apostles, the enemies of Paul.

He says, we aren't like them in which we commend ourselves.

But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they are without understanding.

You see what the false apostles, what the false ministers did is they compared themselves with one another.

And whenever you do that, anytime you're doing that, you're trying to make yourself look better.

If you notice, even given the gospel to the unbeliever, what they typically will do when they say, I'm right before God, they will compare

themselves with one another.

They will say, I'm strong enough to be right before God.

I am right before God because look at the other.

It's the one who compares themselves to God that they realize I am utterly broken and weak.

And so Paul says, yes, you wanna know an indication of a bad minister, a bad teacher, a false

apostle is one who likes to compare themselves with others so they feel strong and able.

That is a false minister.

That is a recipe for disaster.

I like what he says in 17 and 18.

He says, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

You cannot boast in the Lord if you're strong of yourself.

If you don't realize your weakness.

No, it's a blessed place to be when you feel weak for ministry.

Good.

So boast in the Lord.

Verse 18, for it is not the one who commends himself who's approved, but the one whom the Lord commends.

And just, let's just continue on.

What did you say, Tim?

If I run out of time, it's your fault.

That's not even, that's what he said for Sunday school.

That's because you guys can talk and it is kind of your guys' fault, but I don't have that excuse, but I'll still use it.

Second Corinthians chapter 11, verse 21.

Verse 21 through 33.

Paul, look what he says.

Whenever he starts to

boast of himself, he can't help but turn it into a weakness.

It's very fascinating how this happens.

Paul begins to boast in himself to show that he has reason to boast, but then he can't help but end in

weakness.

Look what he says again in chapter 11 of second Corinthians, verse 21.

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of, I am speaking as a fool, I also dare to boast of that.

Are they Hebrews, these super apostles, these false ministers?

So am I.

Are they Israelites?

So am I.

Are they offspring of Abraham?

So am I.

Are they servants of Christ?

I'm a better one.

I am talking like a madman with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings and often near death.

Five times I received the hands of the Jews, the 40 lashes minus one.

Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned.

Three times I was shipwrecked.

And at night and day I was adrift at sea on frequent journeys in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people,

danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger in sea, danger from false brothers, in toil,

hardships through many sleepless night, and hunger, thirst, often without food, and cold and exposure.

And apart from other things, there is this daily pressure on me of my anxiety for the churches.

Who is weak and I am not weak?

Who is made to fail and I am not indignant?

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

You see the minister there?

You see the heart of the minister there?

He can't even end his boasting without saying, you know what, I am just utterly weak.

He says, the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he was blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.

At Damascus, the governor of the king was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, but I was let down in a basket through a

window and the wall and escaped his hands.

And then in chapter 12, we won't read through the whole thing, then he goes on to say, I had visions, right?

I've had visions, I was up in the heavenlies, right?

I was up in the heavenlies with visions, right?

That's something to boast about.

But he says, but then a thorn was given to me to cause me not to boast and to say that my weakness is sufficient

because Christ is strong, he says.

Finishing, look at chapter 12 of verse 10, verse nine,

remember, he's telling the Lord, I'm weak.

I got this thorn.

And what does Jesus say to him?

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.

Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the

power of Christ may rest upon me.

For the sake of Christ and I am content with weaknesses and insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for when I am

weak, then I am strong.

So the point of all this, why we're getting into this is because the minister is a weak vessel.

And you, as a minister in your own capacity, you ought to feel weak.

But it's in that realm that you are then strong in Christ and so you go forward.

May you never go forward in preaching the gospel, giving the gospel to anyone, and not feel a certain weight of

weakness within your own bones, but then be carried forth by the strength that Christ provides

in your weakness.

Ministry is a gift from God given by his power in light of the minister's

weakness.

And so what does the minister do?

Look at verse eight and nine back in Ephesians three.

What does the minister do?

Well, Ephesians three, verse eight, he says, to me,

and he kind of repeats what he's just said, to me, though I'm the very least

of all the saints, weakness, this grace was given, gift, right?

You see how he's just repeated what he just said.

To me, though I'm the very least of all the, and it's worth to even settle on the fact that he calls himself the least of all the

saints.

Usually we'll see Paul say I'm the least of all the apostles, but he even says I'm the foremost of the minister of the gospel,

as Paul is, and he says I'm the least of all the saints.

So let that be in your head whenever you say I just can't do it like Pastor Tim does it, right?

I can't be a minister like him to give someone the gospel.

Well, Paul considered himself least, less than all the saints, but yet still used mightily.

So may you remember that as you consider the apostle Paul, the minister given to him.

He counted himself least of even the saints, yet did great things for the gospel

as a minister.

And he says this grace was given to me, and what does the minister do?

Well, the minister, he says to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable

riches of Christ.

So what does the minister do?

He preaches.

We preach the word.

We don't just receive revelation, right?

For those who receive revelation, God requires that you also proclaim revelation.

And so Paul wasn't just satisfied with receiving the revelation of the gospel, but he's satisfied with

proclaiming said revelation.

And so for those who have received the apostolic message of the gospel, the same thing.

God calls us to proclaim that same message.

We preach, we declare, we live our lives as a ministry of the gospel, but we also back

it up, we also declare it with our words of what we are doing.

We preach the gospel.

Imagine being in a burning building and knowing the

way out of that burning building with a crowd, but not proclaiming the good news that you know the way out,

instead just taking it yourself.

The minister of the gospel, not only have they received the good news, but they can't help, they must

proclaim that there is salvation in Christ, there's a way out of the burning building.

I am compelled to tell you this, whether it's behind a pulpit, whether it's going from city to city

in the Gentile world, or whether it's within your home as a mother or within your workplace as a father,

whatever it may be, I am compelled to find ways to proclaim, to preach,

to give, to declare the message.

And that's what preaching is.

It's not necessarily the formal preaching that's going on here, but it's simply telling of the

good news, it's simply telling what God has done in Jesus Christ.

So we're all in some ways ministers.

We all should feel a burden, I have received the revelation, I must give the revelation of my dear Lord.

We all should feel that within our very bones.

And again, it's despite the many weaknesses that we feel as well.

Because look at, you can see it, you can see what are we to proclaim?

It's the unsearchable riches of Christ.

And we heard that before, if you look in chapter two, verse seven, so that in the coming ages, he might show the

immeasurable riches of his grace.

The word, the message we are proclaiming is the unsearchable, the unsearchable riches, the

immeasurable riches.

You know how difficult it is to explain something that's immeasurable or something that is

unsearchable?

I did a sermon, a funeral sermon this past week, and this man that did it for Bob

Fry, you could tell he was quite the guy.

And I've never met him before, but you could tell the way people described him, he was quite the guy.

And oftentimes what I saw is it would be, start with he was great, and then it'd be, you could tell it was just

hard to describe exactly how he was great.

All you could do is just give examples.

And it's like, you know, the great far vastness of the greatness of Christ is he is

so awesome, so beautiful, so perfect beyond actual description that all you can do is just try to

give some kind of words to describe it, some kind of example, some kind of taste of it.

And it's very, it can be very frustrating as the minister of the gospel to not be able to grab all your hands around it and to

explain it from A to Z.

It can be very difficult as a teacher to do that.

That how can you explain the greatness of Christ and the treasure it is to know him?

How can you do that fully?

It can be so frustrating because it's hard to describe and capture in words.

It's unsearchable riches.

It is immeasurable riches.

It is so vast, and yet I feel so weak because I can't even attain to a tenth of

it.

The weakness of the minister is apparent in the immeasurable message of the gospel.

Nothing will make you feel more weak than trying to proclaim something that can't be fully searched

nor measured.

These simple words cannot express the full riches that Christ

provides for the sinner.

I was making, working on my sermon, and this morning, and Sarah was enjoying

coffee by me, and I was just, it's so frustrating because you're never done with a sermon because you can always say things better.

You can always say things better because I'm trying to capture words that express the eternal riches of God.

So there's always a better way to say it.

It can be very, very difficult.

I feel so weak.

I feel so weak as I try to do it, but nevertheless, we go forth not by our own strength, but by the

strength God provides to the minister.

I can explain to you how to run cable.

I was a cable guy for several years.

I can tell you how to do that.

I could cable up a house, show you how to do it.

I could troubleshoot.

I could tell you why it's not working.

I could do that and feel pretty confident, pretty satisfied that I explained it to you well.

I can tell you how to polish and clean shoes.

I did that for longer than I would like to say, and I can tell you how to do it in total and feel satisfied I did it, but I can never

capture the eternal riches that Christ provides a wicked, wretched,

poor sinner.

My words cannot amount to the beauty of it, and as I mature more by God's grace, I am further

amazed how I cannot do it.

In fact, the greater my sermon might be able to do it, I'm just overwhelmed that I didn't even come close to the beauties that are

actually there, and so that's why that

excuse, I can't do it like you, or I can't do it well like you, I can't minister that like you.

Well, none of us can, but again, we're strong in Christ, and he gives us the words needed for the effect

that people would come to salvation and see the beauty themselves,

and one thing I wanna note, too, before we finish off this section, this

sermon for this morning, is if Christ is indeed so rich, right, because that's what

Paul's saying, he's saying, to preach to the Gentiles the

world, the unsearchable riches, it's not just that he's a little bit rich, Christ has unsearchable riches.

If Christ is so rich, and he offers his richness to the world, why is there

suffering for the minister?

In other words, why is Paul suffering?

Because that's what Paul's doing, he's giving riches to the world, why would the world respond with throwing him in jail, right?

If this is truly the case, right, and that we, 2 ,000 years later, have our own ministries,

why should we expect suffering if Christ is offering that richness?

And one way to look at it is look at what Jesus did whenever he, look at what Jesus did whenever he

gave food out, like physical riches, right?

People flocked to him, he had a huge following, but as soon as he started to point to, this is what this is pointing to, the

spiritual richness, people were like, that's offensive, don't like that too much, and they left.

And the fact is, is the richness that we're talking about, as you proclaim the richness of Christ, what you are proclaiming

about the individual you're telling it to, is you are not rich of yourself.

You are poor, you are needy, you are a wretched sinner, just like I was in

Christ.

You see, as you proclaim the richness of Christ in the gospel, you are necessitating that

you're telling the person that you are not rich, you are wretched, you are worse than you think you are, because

the more that you understand your depravity, the richer Christ becomes to you.

And so if someone is hearing that message, they're not gonna always like it, in fact, without the Holy

Spirit, they're gonna find it offensive.

How dare you say I'm not as good as I think I am?

Because I want you to know the richness of Christ, that's why I'm telling you that.

And you cannot know the richness of Christ without knowing the depravity of self.

And so as you're proclaiming the richness of Christ, and you're doing a job that honors Christ, the true gospel, the

true minister of the gospel, he will proclaim, and you are not.

And you are poor, you are wretched, your works are like dirty rags, and you

need the one who is wealthy.

Because not only was Christ rich in righteousness, but he gives his righteousness richly to you

through the gospel.

You see, it's that people in their depravity, in their hard hearts, they can't get past that first part.

I am a wretched sinner, but it's a shame.

Because as soon as you get past that to Christ Jesus is my righteousness, there is a wealth of richness there

that we cannot fully grasp.

But yet this is the good news of the gospel, and this is the minister's message, and this message is hated, this

message is worked against because people don't like hearing that, and so there is suffering.

So the more faithful of a minister that you are, typically what will happen is the more suffering

you will receive in your faithful message.

Because you are showcasing the weakness of man for the sake of the righteousness that's found in Christ, the good

news that you could be made right through the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we're gonna put a pin here, but look at the conclusion here.

Let's remind ourselves.

Paul says, I am suffering.

For this reason, I'm a prisoner of Christ Jesus for you.

He says, I am suffering in prison.

I am suffering here, but he says, do not lose heart over that.

Why?

Because it is a most blessed thing to receive the revelation of God and to declare the revelation of God.

And so we, as ministers of the gospel 2 ,000 years later, we need to consider it in the same vein.

That although being a faithful minister means in some degree suffering, it is a blessed work that

we welcome because it's a gift from God for the grace, for the mercy, for the glory of Christ that he's given

to us.

So therefore, in our weakness, we proceed forward as a faithful minister of Christ.

And if I can just end, if you are not a minister of Christ, if you are not a believer,

if you are still outside of the graces of Christ, you need to repent now.

You need to understand that there's all richness in Christ, but that's because you are poor and needy.

You cannot live this life in a way that honors God.

You cannot even try by your own power, but you need the Lord Jesus Christ.

You need his righteousness.

You need to put your trust in him and you need to follow him all your days.

This is the call of the gospel.

And it's a blessed thing that as you answer that call by his power, he then gives you a ministry to say

and proclaim the same excellency to all those you come in contact with.

This is the minister.

This is our great delight.

This is a gift that God has given us.

Let us rejoice in him.

God in heaven, thank you for the ministry of Christ.

Thank you for the ministry of the gospel.

Thank you, Lord, that you have called us out from darkness into light.

We see the apostle Paul.

We see that he was in darkness.

We see that he was persecuting the church and yet your grace was sufficient for him to go from a

persecutor to a proclaimer of the gospel.

And we see, Lord, that it comes with suffering, but yet it is a blessed suffering because it is a gift from you.

So may we, as your people, have received the apostolic revelation of the gospel, the good news.

May we take that and may we rejoice that we are close to you through Christ.

And may we then see that we are called to proclaim as a minister the same gospel to all those around

us.

May we see that we're weak.

May we see that we cannot do it of our own power.

And may we see that that's exactly where we need to be so that we rely upon the strength Christ provides.

So let us go out of our comfort zone.

Let us proclaim your gospel and rely upon you to do the work, to make it effectual, to do what you

desire with it.

Just let us be faithful ministers of the cross.

Thank you so much for this gift.

In Jesus' name, amen.