Join Dr. John Kyle as he delves into the heart of Ephesians, exploring the profound insights of Paul on grace, unity, and the importance of stewardship. Drawing from Paul’s experiences and teachings, this episode sheds light on the pivotal role of faithfulness in the life of a believer. As Paul writes from prison, his steadfast commitment to the gospel and his mission to the Gentiles inspire us to persevere in our faith and embrace the calling God has placed on our lives.
Welcome to Expository Truths, where we exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with Dr. John Kyle, pastor of Faith Community Church in Vacaville. As Christians, we’re called to know the truth and be able to proclaim it. We can know truth when we know the Word of God, which is precise, without error, and powerful and effective for both salvation and spiritual growth. Enjoy digging deeply with Dr. Kyle as he takes us verse by verse through the powerful book of Ephesians, giving us a marvelous summary of the good news of Christ and its implications for our daily lives.
SPEAKER 02 :
Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Ephesians 3, 1 and 2. The letter of Ephesians was written by the Apostle Paul to the Christians living in the city of Ephesus. Paul wrote this while he was under house arrest in Rome, and he wrote it to lay a proper doctrinal foundation for these believers, chapters 1 through 3, so they could then live out those doctrines for the glory of God, chapters 4 through 6. We’re now in the heart of the doctrinal section of this book. Look what Paul says next, chapter 3, 1 and 2. For this reason, I, Paul the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. Now here in this passage, we can note three truths about Paul and his present calling. The first truth to note is this, that Paul is a prisoner for the Gentiles. Paul begins verse 1 by saying, for this reason, and that refers back to what Paul says in chapter 2, verses 11 through 22, where he explained the wonderful union of Jewish believers and of Gentile believers into one new person in Christ. What is it that sidetracked Paul? Well, that word Gentile at the end of verse 1 is what sidetracked Paul and the incredible mystery that the Gentiles have become a part of the church and have united with the Jews by faith in Christ alone. As we’ve already seen in Ephesians about Paul with some very long sentences in this book, verses 2 through 13 is also just one long sentence in the original language, the Greek. So look, Paul first begins this chapter by mentioning the fact that he’s a prisoner for the Gentiles. And that’s certainly true. Paul is now under house arrest in Rome at this point. Why does he say he’s a prisoner for you Gentiles? Well, because the Jews had falsely accused Paul of letting a Gentile into a forbidden area in the temple. Yes, there’s that. But even more, because Paul’s special mission was primarily to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. And this specifically is what made the Jews especially angry at Paul, which then led them to following him around and then to harassing him all the time and then to falsely imprisoning him. Yes, the non-believing Jews hated the gospel message of Christ, yes. But they also doubly hated that that message went out to the Gentiles whom they despised greatly. Result? Prison. But note this. That second, Paul’s a prisoner of Christ Jesus. See, he’s a prisoner for the Gentiles, yes, but he’s a prisoner of Christ, right? Note that Paul’s imprisonment in Rome wasn’t the first time that Paul was put into prison, nor the last. Remember in Acts 16, remember? Paul and Silas were beaten and thrown into prison for troubling the city with the good news of Christ. They’re having a godly impact on the city, changing the city for the glory of God. They caused some trouble because of that godly impact, and it made the people very angry. These men exceedingly trouble our city and they teach customs that aren’t lawful for us being Romans to observe. The leaders of the city then tore off their clothes and commanded them to be beaten with rods. Then they laid many stripes upon them. Paul and Silas were then thrown into prison. What can you do in prison? Well, you can pray and you can sing and you can draw near to God and you can please Him and you can commune with Him and encourage other prisoners there. They weren’t in there for long like Paul was now in Rome. But long or short, you know, it didn’t matter. I’m just along for the ride, right? And my call is clear. Be faithful and honor my God whom I love wherever He has me. Look, God has you where He wants you to be as His beloved child. And your call is clear. Be faithful. It doesn’t mean it’s pleasant all the time, right? It doesn’t mean it’s always fun. It doesn’t mean it’s always easy. But you trust Him. And you honor Him where He has you. Paul’s a good example for all of us today. Third, Paul was given a dispensation by God’s grace. Verse 2. If indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you. Now remember. Paul first came to Ephesus at the end of his second missionary journey, and that’s when the church started with Aquila and Priscilla being left to establish that church. A few years later, Paul came back through Ephesus where he stayed for three full years. Well, at this point, as Paul writes this letter, Paul’s been away from the city for about five or six years. And here, Paul gently reminds them of what they had heard when he was there fulfilling his ministry with them, which he will expound upon in the next few verses, which I intended to get to, but we’re not going to get there today. But the general summary of that is found in the word dispensation. What does that mean? Well, the word here is used, means stewardship. And it speaks of Paul’s responsibility, of Paul’s calling, of his ministry that God had graciously given to him. The Greek word used here literally means house manager as in a steward. See, a steward was a worker who supervised his master’s property, fields, finances, vineyards, food, and even other servants. A steward was given a great amount of responsibility and he was called to manage well, to take everything into account, to make sure that the household operated the way the master wanted it to be operated. In Genesis 41, Joseph became the steward for Pharaoh. In verse 40, Pharaoh said to Joseph, you shall be over my house. That’s what it means, a house manager. And all my people shall be ruled according to your word. Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you. And that means that as a steward, Joseph answered to Pharaoh, but he managed everything else in the household. Well, Paul saw himself as a steward of the grace of God. And so as a man of God who had been called by God, Paul knew that his job was to be a good steward of that calling, generally to glorify God, which is the call for all of us, and specifically to share the truth of God to the Gentiles. See, God had given Paul a dispensation, a stewardship, and Paul was called to manage that dispensation, that stewardship for God well. In 1 Corinthians 9.16, Paul writes, If I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, because necessity is laid upon me. Yes, woe to me if I don’t preach the gospel. For if I do it this willingly, I have a reward. But if against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.” So to Paul, as a preacher and apostle who had been called out by God, he knew that he was simply a steward, right? Who was called by God to do what his master had told him to do. And here, there was no boasting in this because it was simply his job and his calling by God as a steward of God. And the question is, will he be a good steward or will he be a bad steward? Look what Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 4.1. I love this passage, by the way. Let a man so consider us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. So again, Paul knew that he was a steward of God. And as a steward, he must be found faithful. And faithfulness is the key. The word faithful means reliable, trustworthy, and honest. And stewards were called to be faithful and reliable because they had so much that had been entrusted into their care. Yes, faithfulness is hard to come by, but the call is very clear. Note that while Paul had a stewardship that was given by God, so do every Christian. We all have a stewardship that has been given to all of us in Christ by God. We’re all called to be faithful to Him as His beloved children, right? And He has entrusted all of us to honor Him in our lives, to be good living stones, to be salt and to be light, to glorify Him in this fading life, to live out who we truly are in Him. And specifically, To use the gifts that he’s given to every single one of us. And the question is, how are you doing? Look what Paul adds in 1 Corinthians 4.3. But with me, it’s this very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. I don’t even judge myself. I know nothing against myself, yet I’m not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord. Isn’t that great? So look, as a steward of God, Paul says that man’s evaluation of him means very little. I love that because you need to have this mindset oftentimes. He didn’t really care about what people thought. Instead, he cared everything about what God thought. And so what people think of Paul means very little to Paul. In saying that, Paul isn’t being arrogant. He’s simply telling the truth. That because he’s a steward of God, it’s God’s evaluation of him that matters. And it’s God’s judgment of him that he truly values. Good thing. Because in his ministry, he was certainly despised, misjudged, ridiculed, criticized, and falsely evaluated by people all the time. And gossiped about constantly. And here, he’s letting them know that his goal is to simply be a faithful steward of God and not to be judged positively by men because men don’t know. Not really. They only see the outside. They can’t judge the heart. They only see things from a very limited and sinful perspective anyhow. So it’s a small thing what you think. Paul knew that it’s best to simply look to God and remember that God’s opinion is the only one that really mattered. We do well to learn from Paul, right? And to stop trying to always win other people’s approval. No. Our call is to simply look unto the Lord. It’s better to be a fool for the Lord and to glorify Him than to be popular with sinners. It’s better to have God alone be pleased with us than to lose that and to have the esteem of the whole world. See, good stewards of God think very little of how they are esteemed by people. And Paul was a very good steward of God, are you? What does God think? That’s what matters. Paul went on to say that his own evaluation of himself means very little. This simply means that he didn’t fall into the trap of living according to his own human evaluation because he knew that his own evaluation of himself was distorted. See, we often don’t see our own sins. We don’t see our own failures. We get blind spots. We often think we’re doing better than we really are. And Paul’s point was that ultimately none of that mattered. What matters is what God thinks and then being faithful to the stewardship that God had entrusted to him. Look, God cares about faithfulness. That’s it. Stop it with human judgment and just be faithful to God. Even if it lands you in prison. Even if you lose all your friends. Even if it means that you stand all alone in the world. Even if it means pain. Think about it. The God of the universe chose you, Ephesians 1, sinful, wretched, dirty, undeserving you and me. And He made you alive when you were dead in sin, when you were a rebel. He forgave you of all your sin. He made you new. He saved your soul. He gave you everything for nothing when you deserve wrath. And now look, you get the high privilege and honor of glorifying Him, the God of the universe, with your fading life. How could we not give Him our all? You see? Wherever we find ourselves as an apostle in prison or as a retiree in home, how could we not give Him our all? The call? Be faithful. Be a good steward. Trust and honor Him where He has you. See? Look, in Acts 20.23, I think this goes to the stewardship of God and this all took place as Paul was just about to begin going to Rome for his imprisonment. He’s not there yet, but he’s close. In Acts 20, 23, Paul knew that if he went to Jerusalem, that change and tribulations awaited him. But he still went. Why? Because look at what he said. None of these things move me. None of these things move me. Nor do I count my life dear to myself. so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I receive from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. That is the mindset of a good steward of God. And that is a great example for all of us in Christ today as we are all stewards of God. What’s every Christian’s aim? It’s to glorify God, right? That’s it. That’s our aim. And so Paul wasn’t surprised that chains and tribulations awaited him in every city. But look, that fact didn’t keep him from doing what he knew God wanted him to do, because pleasing God is always better than escaping pain. And sometimes God’s people even walk into pain for the glory of God. Why? Because Paul had received a ministry, a stewardship, a dispensation from the Lord, and the one and only thing that concerned him now was that he should faithfully accomplish that ministry, that stewardship. That’s it. As one said, what lay in the course of bonds or affliction or even death mattered nothing. The doing of the appointed work was supreme for God’s pleasure. Note that Paul doesn’t like tribulation and chains. Right? I mean, that’s not Paul’s idea of a good time. Right? But again, God’s glory comes first to Paul. And he’s not going to step away from doing God’s will to escape affliction. Right? Chains speaks of Paul being shackled and put into prison, which he was. The word for tribulation means to crush, to press together, to squash, to compress, and to squeeze. That word was used of squeezing olives in a press in order to extract the oil, and of squeezing grapes in order to extract the juice. It conveys the idea of being under great pressure and of being crushed under an intense weight, and that’s what awaited Paul, and he knew it. Prison and great pain. Yet he walked on. Is Christ still worth it, Paul? You’ve already had some wretched times because of your faith and because of your calling, because of your stewardship that God had given to you. And it’s going to get worse. It’s going to get way worse, Paul. And oh yeah, in just a few years, Nero, you’re going to be in Rome again, and Nero is going to behead you. Is it worth it, Paul? Response? None of these things move me. Come on, how good is that? None of these things move me. That clearly is the heart of a person who knows that he’s not his own. But he’s been bought with the price of the precious blood of Christ. And now look, the purpose of his life is to glorify God. That’s his stewardship. That’s his dispensation. Generally, specifically to testify to the Gentiles. But generally, it’s to glorify God and to do whatever God wants him to do. So therefore, none of these other things move me. John MacArthur pointed out the last thing on Paul’s list of priorities was self-preservation. That’s right. And that’s interesting because for most people, it seems, self-preservation is the first thing on their priority list. I need to do this and I need to do that. And I need to be happy and I need to be comfortable and I need to be safe. I need, I need, I need. But that wasn’t the case with Paul. No, Paul instead says, I just want to do whatever God wants me to do. It’s not about me, it’s all about Him. And if I die in the process, all the better, because that means instant glory. For Paul only had one reason to live. That was to finish the work God gave him, which we will specifically look at next week. And when he was finished with that work, his stewardship, God would then take him home. And Paul longed for that day, but not yet. And so none of these things move me. See, his aim isn’t to not be chained up. And his aim isn’t to not suffer. No, his aim is to please God. And that often comes with pain. So be it. None of these things move me. Okay, you ask, so what is it that then moved Paul? Three things from that Acts 20 passage that shows us the mindset of a good steward. First, Paul says, I don’t count my life dear to myself. Other translations put it like this. I don’t consider my life worth anything to myself. I count my life of no value to myself. I don’t account my life of any value nor as precious to myself. I don’t place any value on my own life. How can Paul say that? Because he knows that it’s not this life that really matters, it’s the next. See, this life isn’t dear compared to the next for us in Christ. Right? Now for those without Christ as Lord and Savior, then this life is all that there is. And this is the best it will ever get. How sad is that? Because when you die without Christ, you remain in your sin. And you’ll have to pay the wages of your sin in hell forever. Because Jesus is the only way to escape that wrath. And you have rejected Christ. So eat, drink, and be merry. Because when you die, it’s all bad, horrible, and worse. Way, way, way worse than this. But for the saved, hey, death is our best day by far. For Jesus, God the Son, took the believer’s sin that condemns them unto Himself, and He paid our wages in our place. He died so we could live. He became our substitute for sin. He took our wrath and paid all its wages, and now by grace through faith in Christ, we stand forgiven, clean, perfectly fitted for heaven, and eternal glory is what awaits every Christian today. And that’s why Paul can say, I don’t count my life dear to myself. as precious to myself, as costly to myself, because Jesus is the precious one. He’s the pearl of great price. He’s the one who’s dear to me, not me. This concept is unfathomable to non-Christians and even to some sidetracked Christians, but not to biblical Christians. Paul summed it up perfectly for us in Philippians 1.21 when he wrote, to live is Christ and to die is gain. That’s right. So while I live, Christ, His glory, His pleasure, whatever He wants, and then after that, it’s all gain. That’s right. Remembering that will help Christians to be good stewards in this fast and fading life. The second thing that moved Paul was his desire to finish his race with joy. Here Paul likens a Christian faith to a race, not to get to heaven because he’s already going to heaven. That’s a done deal. You’re saved by grace through faith alone, in Christ alone. But he’s in this race and running well now as a Christian, as a saved believer, as a justified believer, in order to please God. Right? He wants to fulfill his ministry, which is what he says next, to complete the stewardship which God has entrusted into his care. So what would enable Paul to not just finish the race, but to finish his race with joy? This. This. By knowing that God was well pleased with how he ran and lived and served and obeyed and fulfilled his calling. He’s not perfect, right? But his aim is clear. The finish line is in sight and he’s still running hard for the glory of God. Result? Joy. That brings great joy because joy comes when you know that God is pleased. And this is Paul’s earnest desire that this is what’s truly dear to Paul. Finishing the race with joy, knowing that God is pleased. Finishing the race still running hard through the finish line. So here’s a question. Did Paul finish his race well? Did Paul finish his race with joy? Absolutely. As he writes to Timothy at the very end of his life in that wretched, dirty, dark, mammertine prison in another place in Rome, just before his head was chopped off, which brought sweet relief to Paul, he said, I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I’ve kept the faith. And now the crown awaits. Yeah, he finished well. He finished with great joy because God was pleased. Paul ran well and he finished strong and he was a good steward of what God had entrusted to him. What about you? The third thing that moved Paul was his desire to minister faithfully and to testify to the gospel of grace. What is grace? Grace is God’s unmerited favor towards sinners who don’t deserve it. We are nothing without the grace of God. We owe everything to the grace of God. One defined grace as that goodwill on God’s part, which not only provides and applies salvation, but blesses, cheers, and assists believers today. See, God’s grace is the thing that carries us through all the way to the end, all the way to glory. We’re saved by grace. We are sustained every day by grace. And he will see us through to the end by his amazing grace. And Paul knew that God had called him to testify to the gospel of grace to everyone, yes, but specifically to the Gentiles. His call? Be faithful. Be faithful. Even if it gets him thrown into prison, which it did. And the question is, are we faithful? Right? Paul’s a great example, isn’t he? We need to be more like Paul. Every one of us. Look, every Christian has a calling by God. To glorify Him. And we’re all stewards of that. We also have gifts that God has blessed us with that we are to use for His glory and for the good of the church. And our call is to be faithful stewards of that as well. And the question is, are you faithful? Are you faithful over your general calling to glorify God and over your specific calling to use a gift that He has given to you? Are you? Hey, Christ is worth whatever pain and whatever trial that being faithful to Him may bring to you. Be it prison, or a bit of sleep, or some discomfort, or mockery, or a loss of friends, or time, or money, or beatings, or a loss of job, or anything else. Isn’t Christ worth it? Anybody? Isn’t He worth it? May God speak to our hearts. I pray we get it like Paul.
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Thanks for joining us for today’s exposition from the book of Ephesians on expository truths with Dr. John Kyle. Continue on with us next week at this same time. And to find this sermon in its entirety as well as other sermons, visit vacavillefaith.org. Faith Community Church seeks to exalt Christ by bringing clarity of truth through the scriptures with a commitment to glorifying God through the pure, deep, and reaching message of the gospel through faithful exposition. Pastor John is the preaching pastor at Faith Community Church of Vacaville, a seminary professor and a trainer of preaching pastors overseas. Join Faith Community Church for worship Sundays at 9 and 1045 a.m. Located at 192 Bella Vista Road, Suite A in Vacaville. To learn more, visit vacavillefaith.org or call 707-451-2026. That’s vacavillefaith.org.
