Church Sermon - January 8, 2006

THE SECRET OF SALVATION IS OUT

Rev. Bernt P. Tweit

Old Testament Lesson; Isaiah 60:1-6
Gospel Lesson; Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon Text; Ephesians 3:2-12

There was once a man who loved a good murder mystery. Coming to a theater, in his town was a murder mystery that he wanted to see. So, he made sure that he had a ticket for opening night. He came to the theater, and found out that his seat was in the second to last row in the theater.

He motioned to an usher to come over to him and said to the usher, "I love a good murder mystery, but the problem is that I have this seat all the way at the back of the theater. I want to take in everything from this murder mystery. So, if you can give me a seat, up in the front, I will provide you a handsome tip."

That usher left and went to the box office. At the will call window he found that there were a few tickets people had not claimed. It was just a minute or two before the curtain was going to open. He brought one of those tickets to the man and said, "Follow me."

He brought him down to the second row and said, "This is your seat."

That is when that murder mystery lover reached into his pocket and placed a quarter into the usher’s hands.

The usher looked at the quarter and thought in his own mind, "I thought I was going to be getting a ‘handsome tip.’"

So, he motioned for that murder mystery lover to come closer to him and whispered into his ear,

He had just revealed the mystery, even before that play had started!

Now we love mysteries. We love secrets. But especially, we love them when the revelation of the mystery comes at the proper time.

Today in our text, the Apostle Paul reminds us of a mystery, or a secret that has been revealed. The secret of salvation is out.

As Paul is writing the words of our text, he is in prison, in Rome. (Actually, he is under house arrest. He can’t leave, but people can come to and from him.) He is writing this letter to a church that he had once been at, the Ephesian congregation. He is reminding them about this mystery or this secret of salvation that God has provided.

It is kind of a complex text. So, instead of reading it in one fell swoop, I want to break it down into three groupings or three chunks, and really address the three questions that the Apostle Paul is getting at in each section of this text. Remember that the theme this morning is ‘the secret of salvation is out’.

The first question that we need to address is; "What is the secret?"

Let us begin by looking at verses 2 – 5. Here the Apostle Paul says:

"Surely you have heard about the administration of God’s grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, (there is the secret) which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets."

The secret is the Messiah. For the four thousand years that the Old Testament covers, the Messiah was a mystery. God’s people knew that the Messiah was going to come. But now, in the early New Testament Church, the people knew He had come. That is what Paul is revealing. He is revealing the secret of the Messiah.

Isn’t it awesome to think that God took Jesus, His one and only Son, and He nailed Him to the cross? That is the secret.

Now, why would God take His one and only Son, have Him be born as a human being, and nail Him to the cross? The answer simply is God’s grace, God’s love for us who are sinners.

God loves us so much that He was willing to do that, to put His Son on the cross, so that at the cross, Jesus could forgive us and make payment for all our sin.

While we know that secret has been revealed, it still is awesome to consider the mysteries of God. God is far wiser than we are. In both the Old Testament and the New Testament there are passages that reveal just that. For example, in the Old Testament, God says,

"My thoughts are not your thoughts.

Neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts."

In the New Testament we are told, "Oh the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths, beyond tracing out."

There are still things we don’t know about God. But everything that God wants us to know about Him and about salvation has been revealed to us. It has been made known. The secret of salvation is out. And, the secret that Jesus is our Savior has been revealed to us.

Which leads us to the middle grouping of verses in our text. Really the question we need to ask, as we look at that section of scripture is, "Who is this secret for? Who is the secret of salvation for?"

Well, let’s look at verses 6 – 9 to see the answer that Paul gives to us. He goes on to say,

"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, (that is our answer, Gentiles and Jews) members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.

"I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power. Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things."

Now, in order to completely understand what Paul is addressing here, it is important for us to know our Old Testament scriptures.

But, even in the Old Testament, salvation was not only for the Jews, but it was also for the Gentiles. As the Children of Israel came into the land that God had promised them, we come into contact with Gentiles who were saved. An example of that, from the book of Joshua, is the Gibeonites. The Gibeonites had heard how powerful the Israelites were. (Really they deceived Israel, saying they were from a foreign country and wanted a treaty with them.) God preserved the Gibbeonites. Certainly, any of those Gibeonites, who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were saved.

Or, take for example the prostitute Rahab. Again, as the Israelites came into the land that God had promised, she trusted in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and she was saved.

Think about our Old Testament Lesson for today. There in our Old Testament Lesson it says,

"Nations will come to your light."

Gentiles, through faith in the light, through faith in Christ, they will be saved.

Also in Isaiah, chapter 49, here God says,

"Is it too small a thing for you to be my servant,

to restore the tribes of Jacob

and bring back those of Israel that I have kept?

I will also make you a light to the Gentiles

that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."

And then, the New Testament reminds us that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, we are all one in Christ Jesus.

So, who is salvation for? It is for all people. God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, Jews and Gentiles.

Which leads to the very last chunk of verses that are before us this morning. As we look at these grouping of verses, we ask the question, "Who is to reveal this secret? Who is to reveal this secret of salvation?"

Paul gives us the answer, verses 10 –12. He goes on to say,

"His intent was that now, (and here is the answer) through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence."

To think that we, as members of the church, have that profound privilege of revealing the secret and sharing the mystery of salvation through Christ, with other people! That privilege has been given to the church, since its beginning. And yet, throughout history, in the day in and day out routine of life, how that privilege has become lost. In the book of Kings and Chronicles we are told that during the sixteenth king of Judah, during his reign, (and that king’s name was Josiah), that during the eighteenth year of his reign, when he was 26 years old, the Book of the Law was found. What that means is that God’s Word had been lost. Worship of God had been lost, while people continued to carry on their religion. What had happened is that the worship of Baal and Asherah came right into the temple. What had happened is that shrines had been set up on high places. And people who were not Levites, became priests.

When Josiah heard the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes, as a sign of sorrow over sin. And, he reformed the church. He cleaned out all of the false gods out of the temple, Baal and Asherah. He put to death all of those priests who were not Levites, and he knocked down all of the shrines. He reformed the church. He brought it back to God’s Word.

In the New Testament Church, the same thing happened, during the days of Martin Luther. People had God’s Word, but they didn’t know it fully. Even the priests in the church did not fully know God’s Word. But, Martin Luther brought into the language of the people that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

It is now our great privilege, even today, to be the sharers of this mystery and to reveal this secret to other people.

And yet, as we look at our own lives, in the day in and the day out routine of life, how that can become lost.

A relative of mine was once saying that as she was raising her family, a family friend of theirs was also raising their family. This other family wanted the children to be successful in the world. Those children are now successful. But, looking back, that family friend has come back to my relative and has said, "You know, my children are successful. But, look at the expense to which they are successful. They no longer come to church. They no longer care about their faith in Jesus, as their Savior. And, in the day in and day out routine of life, that secret of salvation has been lost."

That secret of salvation has been revealed to us. That secret of salvation has been revealed to us in the pages of Holy Scripture. What a privilege it is for us to not only know that secret for ourselves, but to be able to share it with other people.

That murder mystery lover got a close to front row seat at that murder mystery. And yet, it was revealed to him, before the play even started what the mystery was.

As the secret of salvation has been revealed, the mystery that Jesus is our Savior, who went to the cross to shed His blood, to pay for our sins, to give us eternal life in Heaven, may we follow what the Apostle Paul says, as he closes out our text for today.

"In Jesus and through faith in Jesus, may we approach God with freedom and confidence."

And we can, for Jesus’ sake!

Amen.

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