Open the Eyes of Our Hearts
A Study Through Ephesians - VI
Ephesians 3:1-13
March 09, 2008
John Ryan

If you don't have it here (pointing to the heart), it doesn't matter what you've got here (pointing at the head).
Dicky Fox (Jerry Maguire's Mentor)

"When a young man complains that a young lady has no heart, it's pretty certain that she has his."
George Dennison Prentice (American newspaper Editor and Writer, 1802-1870)

"Refuse to be average. Let your heart soar as high as it will."
A W Tozer (Pastor, Preacher, Writer, Magazine Editor 1897-1963)

Ephesians 3:1,13 13So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering ...
Paul was in prison as he wrote these words from God. However, he makes it clear that He is not a prisoner of the Romans or the Jews but of Christ Jesus. He begins this passage in verse 1, saying - Christ Jesus is making one body between the Gentiles and Jews and I am in jail for preaching this. (This was the point of verses 11-22 in chapter 2.) Verses 2-12 are a parenthesis in which he explains the mystery and purpose of the whole eternal plan of redemption. In verse 13, he returns to his thought from verse 1 by saying, because of all this - "I ask you not to lose heart." Paul recognized through letters, through prayer, and from God the people of Ephesus were struggling over his arrest and life-threatening situation. Paul had spent three years in Ephesus teaching, loving, and serving these people. He was their spiritual father, friend, and pastor. What did he mean do "not lose heart"? In our culture - the heart is the seat of emotions. In the Bible, the Hebrew people understood the heart as the center of the person. It was the place of emotions, passion, thinking, reasoning, courage, sin, and most of all, the place we encountered God. Bottom line - it was the place where our true motives lie. Paul was concerned that the Ephesians would lose their motivation to press on in things of Christ. It is easy for us all to get to dry places and places where we want to just give up or at least not care for a while. Paul asks them not to go there and in verses 2-12 explains to them why.

Scriptures Concerning the Meaning of the "Heart"

Psalm 13:2 How long must I take counsel in my soul and have
sorrow in my heart all the day?

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD!

Isaiah 9:9 and all the people will know, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

Mark 7:20-21 "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, ..."

Rom 10:9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Ephesians 3:2-6 6 This mystery is? that the Gentiles are fellow heirs ...
God had revealed a mystery. God had plainly shown (revealed) to the prophets and apostles of the New Testament church the once hidden truth of the gospel in its entirety. The truth: all can be made acceptable (partakers of the promise) by Jesus the Messiah (Christ) and brought into one body (members of the same body) to know all the blessings of being God's people (fellow heirs). The mystery was twofold; 1) Jesus was the Messiah/God, come to do that which only God could do - make us right with God; and 2) the Gentiles would not only be included in this plan but they would be equals in one body, sharing all the blessings with the Jews. That some Gentiles could be saved by God was known amongst the Jews. There had been Gentile converts for centuries. However, even most of the Jews did not get that God had called them to be a light to the nations. (Is. 49:6) What was not known was that they would not have to become Jews to be saved and that they would receive all the promises made to the Jews.

Ephesians 3:7-10 7 Of this gospel I was made a minister ...
Paul's role (even though he was a great sinner - he killed Christians) was to be a dispenser of God's grace in Christ to the Gentile world and to help all see (including Jews and angels and demons) this was God's plan from eternity past. In this, the power of the united body of Christ would reveal the overwhelming greatness of God's ultimate wisdom before all - including Jews and angels and demons. (I Peter 1:12)

Ephesians 3:11-12 11 This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ ...
This eternal plan of redemption has been completed in Christ and is now being fulfilled before us and through us in Christ. His life, death, and resurrection brought to an end all that would need to be done in God's plan of redemption. That is the meaning of the phrase "that has now been realized in Christ Jesus." Now, God is bringing into fulfillment His kingdom in us and through us. So, in one real sense the work is done and in another real sense God is still fulfilling the completion of this work. The kingdom has come as Jesus said and everything that needed to be done to bring the kingdom to bear happened through Jesus. Now, the reality of that truth is being completed in us and through us in this world.

Because of Christ's completed work, we have the ultimate confidence that God completely accepts us and continues in His will to pour out His favor (grace) on us. Why? God is finishing His work in us and through us through these things: Boldness - ability to say and ask for anything with out fear of losing acceptance. Access - full acceptance into His presence without fear of being removed for being some place we shouldn't. Confidence - sure thing, we know that we know. Faith in Him - bottom line, we still must throw ourselves on Christ in complete trust. As we do, we know we are completely accepted and favored. Because of this, we have boldness to ask and confidence to rest in his presence.

"So I ask you not to lose heart..."
Why do we lose heart? Paul recognized that when the circumstances of life become bigger than our view of God, we can lose heart. We can stop trusting and grow dry, just move through the motions, want to quit, or just get to a place where we don't care. All eventually result in a loss of heart which means:
1) we do and obey for all the wrong reasons or
2) we just stop following. Both are deadly but not hopeless. How do we regain our heart? Paul points out three huge truths in this passage to help us protect or restore our heart.

1) We have to see that God's big picture is at work in us, through us, and in the life of this world. Our life is about more than games, school, bills, advancement, networking, etc. These are not evil things, but when they become our focus we often forget the big, eternal plan of God that is going on in this world. Through Christ, God is restoring men and women, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile into Him. This restoration means we are fully acceptable, a part of one body, and the recipients of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
2) We have to see that all that is going on is for His glory and our good. The very last thing Paul says is - don't lose heart over what I am suffering, this is your glory. God was using what Paul was enduring to make the Ephesians more fully reflect the overwhelming greatness of God (glory). What you are enduring or maybe even what someone else is enduring, God is using for you to look more like Him. If we fail to see that God is at work in all things we will lose heart in many things. If we lose enough of our heart, we will move for the wrong reasons or stop moving altogether.
3) One last thought here: God has a part for us to play in this great eternal plan of redemption. As we submit to God in Jesus, we begin to find our roles. I think there are many. Paul was apostle, preacher, pastor, teacher, friend, servant, martyr. What are yours? Paul could endure because he trusted in a big God who had a big plan at work on this earth. Paul encouraged others to endure because God's glory - the revealing of His greatness - was being revealed through simple human lives. Paul endured because in the midst of God's greatness, God appointed him - chief of sinners - to serve God in this plan. Paul's humility meant he was learning that his part, while vital, was not irreplaceable. Paul's boldness meant He was learning to trust more and more that he was fully acceptable before God in Christ. We can lose heart for sure. But, if we ask, God will open the eyes of our heart to see His greatness, His great plan, and His great work in us and through us.

"The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives."
Albert Schweitzer (Theologian, Philosopher, Physician 1875-1965)

"The place where God calls you is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet.
Fredrick Buechner (Teacher, Writer, and Defender of the Christian Faith 1926-?)

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