Ephesians 3:2-6 “if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers
Pastor Herk then shared four observations about this passage that we can use in our journey through life. (1) Life is a mystery being opened up to us day-by-day. We do not know what is going to happen in the future, and in this life, tomorrow is not guaranteed. Intellectually, we know that life is a mystery, but the practical fact is that none of us live our lives like we really believe that. Look at how many are trying to take the mystery out of their lives because they want to know, plan and control their future and make things happen to get and be who and where they want to be. The Bible is clear that we cannot know what is going to happen in the future because that is the way that God planned it. James 4:13-14 tells us, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. You can make your plans, but it may not work out the way that you planned it would.
Matthew 6:31-34 “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. When our plans change and do not work out the way that we thought they would, we become disappointed. But, know that our omniscient God know what was going to happen, seeing from outside of time looking in, knowing the end from the beginning. God knows and understands it all; we do not.
The second observation for application is that God reveals the mysteries of life as we need to know. God has a plan for each and every one of us. When we hear God’s calling upon our hearts, we need to be obedient to it. And in as much as we think that we want to know what the future has in store for us, the fact is that we couldn’t deal with it the way that we should or fulfill the calling of our life, if we knew. So, God reveals each day as much of the mystery of life as we need to know in order to live out His plan for it; unfolded day-by-day, little-by-little, and one step at a time. God will help us deal with whatever difficulties come up along the way, when the time comes. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift of God, which is why we call it the present. The Lord is with us and we need to trust God.
Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
The third observation for application is that God’s revelation never violates His Word. We live in a culture today where many people claim to have some new revelation form God. That is how Cults are formed. One of God’s attributes is that He is immutable. The test for special revelation is: how it stacks up against the rest of God’s Holy Word? Is it consistent with Holy Scripture and what the Bible teaches? If it is not complimentary in accordance with the Word of God, then it is false doctrine. Believers, disciples of Christ, the children of God should not be deceived by such false teaching and ideology.
Let's continue Pastor Herk's message on the Mystery of Life in the next post.
In Christ, Brian
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