Ephesians 3:1-13

“The Mystery”

Scripture: Ephesians 3:1-13

Memory Verse: “…and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God….” Ephesians 3:9

Lesson Focus: The “mystery” of God is revealed in the Church.

Activities: Coloring Page; Word Search

Craft: for 1st and 2nd Grades: “Friends Always” Valentine Card

Give each of the kids a “owl” card.

Tell them to color and decorate their card.

Tell them to cut out their card

Tell them to glue their card to one of the foam hearts.

Tell them to give their card to someone else. If we are the church and we need to fellowship and care about each other – then we want to show each other some love today.

Introduction:

Ask the kids; “who knows what a “mystery” is?

(Something that is hard or impossible to understand or explain…it could be a

secret)

Books: Have you ever heard of Nancy Drew or the Hardy boy. These are stories

about a mystery that the kids try to solve. Do you know some books that are mysteries?

(Teachers: You could bring in a book to read to the kids that is a child’s mystery book)

Movies: Scooby Doo?

Anatasia?

Name some mystery movies that you know?

We like mysteries because we want to help solve them. We want to figure out what is going on.

Today, in our Bible lesson we will see that God had a big “mystery” too, ne that many people did not understand or figure out. But we can solve this mystery through our bible lesson today.

Bible Study:

Review: In the first part of Ephesians, Paul has been telling us everything that we have

“in Jesus.” We have every spiritual blessing, we have salvation, we have God’s grace; we have the mighty power of God in us through the Holy Spirit and we are sealed by the Holy Spirit with a promise of heaven and eternity.

Ephesians 3:1-5: (There is a “mystery”)

Paul starts out starting to pray, but then seems to get distracted once again and begins to talk about the mystery of God.

3:3 (God made known the mystery to Paul)

3:4 (Paul is sharing his knowledge of the mystery of Christ)

3:5 (This mystery was not known before Jesus came in past ages. But is made

known now to the Apostles by the Holy Spirit.)

Ephesians 3:6: (What is the “mystery?”)

3:6 – The “mystery” is that the Gentiles should be fellow “heirs” because of the

Gospel of Jesus.

√ Who are gentiles? (everyone outside of Israel)

√ Are we gentiles? (yes)

√ What does it mean to be a “heir”? (to inherit property or rank after

someone dies.)

√ What does it mean to be of the “same body?

(to belong to the same group of people)

√ What does it mean to be “partakers of His promise in Christ through

the gospel?” Because of the gospel (what Jesus has done for us) we are a part of the promises of God for now and in heaven.

So in the one verse (3:6) we get 3 parts of this mystery.

The mystery of God is that salvation through Jesus is for all men not just

the Jews.

We then become:

  1. Fellow Heirs
  2. Part of the same body
  3. All partakers of His promise

In the Old Testament God chose the Jewish people to be His people. But they did not follow God with their whole hearts. God knew this would happen and His plan was a Messiah that would not be just for the Jewish nations but would be for the whole world.

Ephesians 3:7-8: “ A Minister of the Mystery”

  1. God made Paul a minister to share this mystery of Christ
  2. Paul said that he was the “least” of all the saints. What is Paul saying here? Paul knows that he used to not believe in Jesus. As a matter of fact – he persecuted people that did believe in Jesus. But God got ahold of his heart and he believed in Jesus as his Savior. He became a minister to preach the good news of Jesus. But he knew that he was unworthy. This is not false humility – he truly knew that his salvation was a gift from God and he was unworthy. We should all feel this kind of humility before God and realize that there is nothing in us that deserves God’s grace it is all a gift!
  3. Paul gets to preach to the Gentiles the “unsearchable” riches of Christ. The word “unsearchable” means that the riches that we find in Christ are beyond discovery. It is beyond the biggest pile of gold that we could ever find. Jesus does not subtract from our life – He adds spiritual riches that are beyond what we can understand.

Ephesians 3:9-13; “The Fellowship of the Mystery”

Ephesians 3:11: Let’s start with this verse and then go back up to the

preceding verses.

“God’s Eternal Purpose” was accomplished in Jesus

God’s eternal plan of salvation for the world was through Jesus. This was not God’s plan B or plan #2. This was God eternal purpose! From eternity it was planned for Jesus to bring salvation to the world. All the way through the Old Testament it was pointing to Jesus.

So because of God’s eternal purpose of salvation for everyone through Jesus Christ now we can have:

Ephesians 3:9 & 10

  1. Fellowship
  2. The Church will make God’s wisdom known
  3. The angelic host watch as God’s mystery is lived out in the Church. Peter even talks about this in 1 Peter 1:12 when he says “things which angels desire to look into.” The angels of God are watching as this mystery of God is worked out in the church.

God’s gift of salvation through Jesus brings us together. There should be no divisions. We are united in Jesus. God wants to use His church to share His message to the world.

√ Is the Church important to God?

√ What is the church?

√ What is fellowship?

√ Are they both important? Why or why not?

John writes in 1 John 1:3; “that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Our “fellowship” is with God and with each other.

Ephesians 3:12-13:

Because of Jesus we have boldness…

Because of Jesus we have access…

Because of Jesus we have confidence…

….To come to Him at any time!

So now Paul reminds them to not worry about him.

Paul was in prison for preaching the gospel to the gentiles.

Paul knew that God was in charge and that this was for His glory.

Paul knew that the Church would be concerned – and he wanted to

reassure them.

Conclusion:

  1. What is the mystery of Christ?

That Jesus death for our sins was for the whole world.

  1. What does it mean to have fellowship?
  2. What is the church and is it important to God?
  3. Is the church important to you?
  4. How could you work at having fellowship with other here?
  5. What could we do to make our fellowship better?

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