Robert Jeffress - A Man With A Mission
Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and welcome again to "Pathway to Victory". In a world full of distractions, it's easy to lose sight of our true purpose as Christians. But the apostle Paul never wavered from his mission, even when he was faced with imprisonment and persecution. Today, we're going to turn to Ephesians chapter 3 to discover the secret behind Paul's steadfast commitment to spreading the gospel. What can we learn from this man who understood both his master and his mandate? My message is titled "A Man With A Mission" on today's edition of "Pathway to Victory".
You may not know the name Robert Woodruff, but I guarantee you know the product that his company produces. From 1923 to 1955 Robert Woodruff was the president of the Coca-Cola company. And after America entered the second World War In 1941, Woodruff sent these Marching orders to his employees. He said he wanted to make sure every serviceman, regardless of where they were stationed in the world, could have a bottle of Coca-Cola for only a nickel. No matter how much it costs to produce it, no matter how expensive it was to distribute it, every soldier was to have access to as much coke as he wanted. At the end of World War II, there were now 64 bottling plants around the world for Coca-Cola, and by the end of the second world war, 5 billion bottles of coke had been consumed.
As my friend max Andrews says, Robert Woodruff was more committed to his goal of giving everybody in the world a drink of coke than most Christians are to the goal of having everybody in the world have a drink of the water of life, eternal life. We don't know our mission. We're not committed to a mission. Instead, most of us can identify with the words of Robert Eldridge, who described much of his life this way. He said, "For years, all my daily energy was spent trying to beat the trials in my life and arrange for a little pleasure. My weeks were wasted away either striving or indulging. I was a mercenary. A mercenary fights for pay for his own benefit. His life is wholly devoted to himself. The quality of a true warrior is that he is in service to a purpose greater than himself, that is, to a transcendent cause".
Let me ask you, are you a mercenary, or are you a true warrior for God? Are you tired of striving to find a little pleasure anywhere you can? Are you tired of having a purpose no bigger than yourself, or are you fixed on the one mandate Christ left us with to go into all the world and share the gospel of Jesus Christ? Today, we're going to look at one man who understood his master whom he was serving, and he understood the mandate his master had given him. His name is the apostle Paul, and we find his story in Ephesians chapter 3. If you have your Bibles, turn to Ephesians 3 as we look at Paul, a man with a mission.
Now, remember where we are in our study of Ephesians. In chapter 2, Paul contrasts what our lives were like before we came to Christ with what they are now. And in the section in which he describes what our lives were like before Christ, he makes the point that really gentiles and Jews are both bad off without Christ, but gentiles were worse off than even the Jews were. Why is that? Look at Ephesians 2:12. He said, "Remember that you," Ephesian gentiles, "You were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and no God in the world".
Think about it. Gentiles, who didn't have the Revelation the Jews had, they had no Savior, they had no country, they had no promises, they had no hope, and they had no God. That's pretty bad shape to be in. But that's the way all of us who are gentiles are without Christ. But then notice what he says in verse 13. "But now," that's the contrast. "But now through Christ Jesus you who were formerly far off," that is, gentiles, "Have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in his flesh," the strife, "The enmity, which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity".
What is all of that saying? He's saying through Christ, the dividing wall between Jews and gentiles has been torn down. Through Christ, we all have access to God the Father. Here's the truth, the sentence I want you to write down, the secret to Paul's success was that he had an understanding of his master and his mandate. The secret to Paul's success was that he had an understanding of his master and his mandate. Look at verse 1 as we look at Paul the prisoner. "For this reason, i, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you gentiles".
Now, let's stop there. Underline that phrase "For this reason". Anytime you see that in scripture, you ought to ask yourself, "What is he talking about? For what reason"? Well, that sends you back into the previous passage. It's what everything he's been writing about. His message was saying that there's no longer a distinction between believing Jews and gentiles, that we are all one in Christ. He said, "For this reason, I ended up in jail. That's where I am right now. A prisoner for preaching that very truth".
Now, there were really two reasons for Paul's imprisonment he gives us in this verse. One is the logical reason. The logical reason. The logical reason he was in prison was because of the message he proclaimed. Now, we find more detail about that message when we turn to acts chapter 21, and Paul is sharing his testimony. I'm convinced God has a sense of humor. If you ever doubt that God has a sense of humor, look into a mirror sometime. Hundred percent evidence there. But it's also in how God deals with us, and that was true for the apostle Paul.
Now, think about it. Before he was converted, Paul was Saul of Tarsus, and he described himself as a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Jew of the Jews, zealous for God. In fact, Saul was so zealous, and jealous, for God that he wanted to stamp out heresy. And when he heard about this new sect called Christianity, he wanted to extinguish it as quickly as possible. Paul wasn't a sadist. He didn't enjoy persecuting people. He thought he was being faithful to God. The logical reason he was a prisoner, because he was obedient to God. But there was a theological reason for his imprisonment as well, and it's found in that little phrase "A prisoner of Jesus Christ". He wasn't a prisoner of Rome. He wasn't a prisoner of the Jewish Sanhedrin. He wasn't a victim of other people. He was a prisoner of Jesus Christ. That is, he was in prison because of Jesus.
Some of you today, you feel like you've been forgotten by God, you've been forsaken. You're in a difficult marriage. You're having difficulty with your children or grandchildren. Maybe there's stress at work. Maybe you've lost somebody close to you, and you wonder, "Why in the world would God allow this to happen"? God knows exactly where you are. He puts you in the place you are for a purpose. Ed Dobson has written some encouraging words about how we are never a surprise to God. God knows where we are. He says, "God is never caught off guard by disaster. No matter how suddenly it occurs or how large and terrible its consequences, God never calls a cabinet meeting to discuss how he will respond to tragedy, nor does he sit in heaven pondering what he will do next".
There's a great Psalm you ought to read and memorize if you feel discouraged about your situation. The first three words are pure gold. You know how the 93 Psalm begins? "The Lord reigns". The Psalmist doesn't say, "There was a day in the past when the Lord reigned". He doesn't say, "There will be a day coming in the future when the Lord will reign". No, the Psalmist said, "The Lord reigns". The Lord is in control of everything that is happening in the world in general, and in your world specifically. The Lord reigns. Paul believed that with all his heart, and that's why he said, "I am a prisoner not of these Romans, not of these Jews. I am a prisoner of Jesus Christ". He had a clear understanding of who his master really is.
Do you have that understanding? But not only did he understand his master, he understood his mandate, his command. We see that in Paul the minister, beginning with verse 2, Paul understood that he had been given a special message to proclaim, and that message is explained in verses 2-6. Paul writes, "If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me: that by Revelation there was made known to me the mystery". Paul said, "I have been chosen to unveil a mystery". Now, this word "Mystery" is key to Ephesians 3, Paul uses it four times in this chapter alone. "Tell us what the mystery is". Here it is, verse 6, "To be specific, that the gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel".
He says three things about gentile believers. First of all, they are fellow heirs with Israel. There are no second-class citizens in the Kingdom of God. Believing Jews are not superior to believing gentiles or the other way around. They are fellow heirs with Israel. Not only that, he says they are fellow members of the body. What does he mean "Body"? He's talkin' about the church. The church is the new organism God has created for both Jews and gentiles. And Paul's favorite metaphor for the church is "The body of Christ". Jesus is the head, you and i, Jews and gentile believers alike, are parts of the body. We are Christ's representative to the world, the body of Christ. And God means for the body to operate as one, to be unified. We know what happens in our physical body when our body is not unified.
If you have one cell in your body that starts attacking another cell, you know indeed what happens. It's called cancer. That's not what's supposed to happen. When you have one cell attacking another, it causes cancer, and ultimately, the death of the body. So it is in the church of Jesus Christ. When you have believers attacking believers, it ends up destroying the body of Christ. He said, "You are fellow members of the body". And not only that, thirdly, Jews and gentiles are fellow partakers of the promise. They both share in the promise. They didn't want to be one. They didn't understand that. They wanted to keep their distinction. Paul said, "No, we are one". That was the message explained. And then we see the message proclaimed. How was that message to get out to the world?
Notice this, first of all, it was to come by Paul. Who is gonna share this mystery? It would come by Paul. Look at verse 7, "I was made a minister of this gospel, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of his power". By the way, notice it says, "I was made a minister". He didn't choose to be a minister. He was made a minister. Now, I believe God calls certain people to ministry, men and women to various ministries, vocational ministries. They give their whole life to a particular ministry. And people don't understand that. People who aren't called in the ministry don't understand that.
Amy and I were riding in an Uber not long ago, and the driver was making small talk. He knew I was a pastor, and he said, "What made you choose to be a minister? I guess the pay is pretty good, right"? I said, "Well, sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't, but that's not the reason". And I explained to him how I was called into the ministry. I might as well have been speaking Chinese to him. He had no concept of that at all. No, God calls.
And by the way, if I'm speaking to some here today or watching or listening to this message and you're struggling with whether you're called or not to full-time vocational ministry, don't worry about it. You're probably not. Those who are called understand that they're called. There's an unmistakable call of God to men and women who are called to ministry. But in a very real sense, every Christian has been called to ministry. We may get our paycheck not from a church but from someplace else, but our mission is the same, to proclaim Christ to as many people as possible. Paul said, the gospel, this mystery, was preached by Paul to the gentiles.
Look at verse 8, to the gentiles. "This grace was given, to preach to the gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ". No, we're to preach the gospel to everybody, but God calls us sometimes to different groups to minister to. Philippians 2:13 says, "God is the one who is at work within you, giving you the power and desire to do his will". One way to know your specific calling is to ask yourself, "What do I enjoy doing? What do I feel drawn to"? Some people are drawn to minister to children or students or prisoners in a prison or abuse victims. One way to know the unique group that you're to minister is by those that you have a special desire for. He said the gospel came by Paul to the gentiles, and notice thirdly, through the church.
"So that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church". Now, you know, today, the church is thought to be a second-class organization, out of date, no longer relevant. And yet that's not what the Bible says. There are a lot of good Christian organizations out there that do wonderful work, but they are all second to the local church. The church is the only organization in the world that was designed by God. It's his idea, the church.
Ephesians 5:25 says, "Christ loved the church and gave himself for her". Now, I know some part-time theologians wanna argue with me about that, and they wanna say, "Oh, well, that's talkin' about the universal church. All Christians everywhere. That's what it's talking about". Not completely. Did you know the word "Church" is found 110 times in the Greek New Testament? Ekklesia. Ninety of those times, it's referring not to the universal church, all Christians everywhere, but to the local church. God's primary plan for getting the gospel out is through the local church fulfilling its mission.
I love what Tony Evans said about the church. He said, "Jesus's plan is that there would be a group of people on earth who made up his global church and who reflect the nature of heaven. That way, no matter where people live, if they want to know what's going on in heaven, all they have to do is check out their local church. God's people are to be earthly models of heaven's reality". Francis Schaeffer used to say, "The local church is the universal church cut down to size". The gospel is preached through the church. And notice fourthly, he said it comes by Paul to the gentiles through the church for the angels.
Now, this is a mind-blowing thought. The primary beneficiary of the gospel of Jesus Christ is not those who receive it here on earth. It's for the benefit of the angels. That's what he's talking about, "To the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places". What does that mean? Why would angels who are already in heaven need to hear the gospel? Remember, God's one purpose is to bring glory to himself. The best explanation I found for this are in the words of the late theologian and pastor James Montgomery Boice. I want you to listen to this. It's worth the price of the sermon today just for this quote.
He said, "After satan," Lucifer in heaven, "Rebelled, God could have simply destroyed satan and snuffed out the rebellion before it ever got started. Had he done that, the angels would have seen God's power and his justice. But God chose a completely different plan. He said, 'I'm going to create a race called man. I know that satan will seduce many of them into following him and satan will think he's won. But while he does that, I will create a new people who will glory in doing what's right, following me, even when they suffer for doing so. Satan will say, "Your people serve you only when you protect them and provide for them". But this new people I'm creating will praise me in spite of their suffering and bring glory to my name'. And so all of us are a part of this great eternal drama. The world is the stage, the angels are the army and audience. 'but this new people I am creating will simply come on the stage at their assigned time and speak the words that come from hearts that love him'".
Isn't that a great thought? We're just actors on the stage, coming on stage at our assigned time to speak the words that we're assigned and to glorify God in the process. Paul understood that. He understood he had a role to play, words to utter, and he did so in such a way that gave honor to God.
What about you? Do you have a clear understanding of who your master is? Do you realize when you go off to work tomorrow or go to school or stay at home, you're not serving that boss, that teacher, that mate? You're serving God. And do you realize that wherever you get your paycheck from, that's not the issue? Your real mandate, your real assignment, is to glorify God by reaching as many people as possible with the gospel. Understanding knowing your master, understanding your mandate are the keys to living a life of true purpose.