to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph 3:8)
Paul reminds his Ephesian friends that God has called him to blow their minds. Christ selected the man from Tarsus for an assignment so crazy, so wild, that you can't begin to wrap your brain around it. The apostle's job is "to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (v8). Jesus handpicked this former Pharisee and rising superstar among the Jews to invite non-Jews to the party.
Gospel preached. Minds blown.
That's the entire reason he's writing this letter from a Roman jail. Just down the road in Colossae, a group of spiritual hucksters have spread a counterfeit gospel that's done great damage to the church there. These snake oil salesmen have duped Jesus' followers into believing that Christ didn't really get the job done. In order for us to REALLY be saved, we've gotta follow a long and complicated list of religious rules. Specifically, in order to follow Jesus you have to be a Jew first. This is devastating news to these new churches that are made up mostly of Gentiles. Paul fires off a letter to the Colossians telling them to drop that stupid idea like it's hot. And before he puts down his pen, he writes this important epistle to the folks in Ephesus, just 100 miles down the road from Colossae.
His purpose is just as urgent for us today as it was for the Ephesians 2000 years ago. We desperately need to know EXACTLY who Jesus is. We desperately need to know EXACTLY what He's done. We desperately need to know EXACTLY who we are in Him. We place our trust in His perfect life, not our own imperfect ones. We place our trust in His death for sin, so that we don't have to. He did it for us. In many ways, there's no clearer or succinct announcement of the Good News that what a dying Jesus screamed from the cross. "It is FINISHED!!!" (Jn 19:30). It's over. There's nothing more that needs to be done. He's completed the work. He's done for us what we could never do for ourselves. That includes stuff like trying to follow Jewish religious rules, diet and holidays.
Christ then sent Paul on the mind-blowing mission of letting non-Jews know the doors of salvation are open to everyone. A big stop on one of his world tours was Ephesus. The apostle stayed there three years. Three CRAZY years. Three WILD years. Exactly what happened? Dr. Luke wrote all about it in Acts 19. It's what happens when people try to wrap their brains around God's incredible goodness.
Jesus will blow your mind. Always has. Always will.
The apostle writes that he's telling the Gospel of Jesus to "Gentiles" (v8). Actually the Greek term here is ethnos. It's where we get our word ethnic. It describes an ethnicity, a people group, a socio-political community or a cultural tribe. Paul repeatedly uses the term in a plural form to describe non-Jews throughout the world. For centuries, the Jews thought that they were the sole recipients of God's goodness as His chosen people. But Jesus blasted down the walls of race, ethnicity, religion, class and gender (Eph 2:14; Gal 3:28; Col 3:11). Messiah Jesus has made a way for everyone to have access to God. For folks living in the Roman empire, this was crazy talk. They couldn't wrap their brains around it.
Jesus will blow your mind. Always has. Always will.
When Paul searches for a word to describe God's gracious goodness, he comes up with "unsearchable" (v8). It's the Greek adjective anexichniastos. Looks like a mouthful, doesn't it? It's beyond a mouthful. It's beyond a mindful. It means that which cannot be searched or comprehended. Impossible for the mind to understand. Beyond human discovery. Fathomless. Infinite. Beyond your ability to imagine. In other words, the incredibly Good News of Jesus is SO good that it will make your head hurt. You want the truth about Jesus? Well, you can't handle the truth...IN A GOOD WAY!!! His goodness is SO good, His grace is SO gracious, that it's off the charts. Off the scale. Off the hook.
Jesus will blow your mind. Always has. Always will.
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