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Well, good morning. It's good to be with you all. Good to see all the smiling faces. It's always a privilege to be in the pulpit and share the Word of God with you. You can go ahead and turn your Bibles to the book of Ephesians, chapter 3, is what we'll be this morning.

As you're turning there, I want to share a few things that I've learned here recently. You know, back in January, I had the privilege of turning 40. And when you turn 40, you learn a few things. You realize that your parents were right all along. You have to eat less junk food and more vegetables.

When you're turned 40, your body will thank you. Your hair gets these really cool gray streaks right here and in your beard. And people think you're smarter than you really are. When you turn 40, you realize that weddings start to be replaced by funerals. And it's like when you're 20, you're getting invited to your friends' weddings like every other weekend.

And when you reach 40, you start getting invitations to funerals. And you realize that life's short, a lot shorter than you think. And it's a vapor. Realize that maintaining the right perspective on life is still a challenge, even after 40 years of life. Oftentimes, I feel like my perspective on the circumstances of life is different than God's perspective.

And I struggle to see the things the way that God would see them, which is why I love the Word of God, because it's that constant reminder, that constant correction of perspective to see things the way God sees them and to see and the ability to see what God is doing in the world and how you and I and our lives fit into it.

And that's exactly what this passage this morning is all about in Ephesians 3. It's about having the right perspective on life so that you can understand and participate in what God is doing in the world. The last time we were together, we began looking at this passage, and we just looked at verse 1 last time.

This morning I intend to cover verses 2 through 6. And if you recall, it's really one complete unit of thought. Verses really 1 through 13 is one unit of thought. And so I want to read them together for us this morning, even though we will be stopping at verse 6 in our study.

So please follow along with me as I read from Ephesians. 3 verses 1 through 13 says, For this reason, I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace, which was given to me for you, that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief.

By referring to this, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. 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, of which I was made a minister according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me, according to the working of his power.

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things, so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places.

This was in accordance with the eternal. Purpose which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. Therefore, I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory. May God bless his word this morning as we study it.

Let me remind you briefly of the context of this passage. If you recall, chapter 2, Paul has just finished explaining to these Ephesians the significance of what Christ had accomplished on their behalf as Gentiles. That's what he has been explaining in chapter 2. These Gentiles were separate from Christ.

They were strangers to God and to the promises. But because of Christ and his death on the cross, all of that had changed. All that had changed. Now in Christ, these Gentiles could be united to God and united to his people. That was chapter 2. And then in verse 3, he picks up and says, For this reason, or because of these truths about being united to God and united to his people, I, Paul, the prisoner, for the sake of you Gentiles, and then he pauses.

He breaks his thought in mid-sentence in verse 1, and then he doesn't complete that thought actually until verse 2. 14. We know this because he picks back up with that same phrase in verse 14. For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father. So he explains these truths and then he seeks to pray for them.

And as I mentioned last time, these verses in the middle, these 13 verses in the middle are sort of one big parenthesis. This kind of interruption of thought. And so if you, again, write in your Bibles, you can put a parenthesis around maybe beginning at the verse 2 and at the end of verse 13.

And these verses are very personal in nature. They describe Paul's unique perspective on his life and ministry. And he seeks to share these things in his letter so that these Gentile Christians there in Ephesus could begin to grasp and begin to understand how their lives fit into the eternal plan and purposes of God.

That's why he's writing. That's why he interrupts his thought here. Because he knew that if they were going to understand this, they needed to have the right perspective. And so he stops his prayer to help them see these things more clearly. The first perspective that Paul shared with them, we looked at last time, was that he considered himself to be a prisoner of Christ Jesus.

A prisoner of Christ Jesus. Again, we looked at that last time, and as he writes this letter, or as he wrote this letter, he was actually sitting inside of a Roman prison. Remember, he was in a Roman prison, he was chained to a Roman guard, literally bound in chains.

But those circumstances did not define his life. It did not define who he was. He did not consider himself a prisoner of Rome, despite the chains. Rather, he saw himself as a prisoner of Jesus. He saw himself as one bound to the person of Christ for the people of Christ.

That was verse one. And he shares this perspective with them and says, you need to understand that I'm merely a prisoner of Christ, and my imprisonment is nothing to be discouraged about because Christ is the one who has led me here. That was his perspective. But there's a second perspective that I think it's worth mentioning, and that's what I want to talk about this morning.

And that is that Paul considered his life and ministry to be a stewardship of God's grace. In these verses this morning, he describes this stewardship, and so I want to begin to unpack this perspective for us so that it will transform. The way that you view your life and your circumstances and your ministry.

Now, again, we're not going to be able to get through all of these verses. We're just going to get through verse 6 this morning. But I want you to see four descriptions of this stewardship that Paul refers to here. Four descriptions of the stewardship. Begin in verse 2, looking at the first one.

This stewardship was given as an expression of God's grace. Let's read it together. It says, If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you. Stewardship. First, notice the word if at the beginning. This tells us that Paul is making a conditional statement.

If this is true, then this will be true. You're familiar with conditional statements. He's saying, If indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, if that is true, then verse 13 is also true. I want you to see that.

This is the argument he's making. You may recall that verse 13 is the conclusion of Paul's thought in these verses. He's wanting them to have the right perspective about his imprisonment. And so he says, I don't want you to be discouraged at my tribulations, right? They are for your glory.

They're necessary to bring about your glory. And so, in Paul's mind, having the right perspective is contingent upon them understanding and hearing about this stewardship in verse 2. So, we need to understand the stewardship. What is the stewardship that he is speaking of? Stewardship is maybe not a familiar term.

We don't use it a whole lot, and when we do, it's maybe used in the context of tithing, which I don't think is always the exact meaning of the word. When you look at the word stewardship, it's two words put together, a word for house and a word for law.

So, a house law, if you will. And it was often used to refer to the management of a household. Specifically, it refers to the management or the oversight or the administering of someone else's property. You see, in a first-century household, when Paul was writing, there would be a master of the house, and he would often assign a house manager or a steward.

And this steward was a special slave, usually a slave, and he was given the duty and the responsibility to manage and administer the affairs of the house. On behalf of their master. That was what a steward was. He didn't own the house. The master didn't give him ownership of anything, but he gave him a role, a specific role, with a specific responsibility to manage according to the master's instructions or the master's law, if you will.

A few examples of this word can be found in the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 12. You don't have to turn there, but you remember Jesus was giving parables, and the disciples were asking him. Peter in particular was asking him about a particular parable, and the Lord answers him and says, Who then is a faithful and sensible steward whom his master will put in charge of his servants to give them their rations at the proper time?

Again, a steward, someone that's been put in charge by their master, and there's a responsibility to distribute and administer according to the master's will. Perhaps a good Old Testament example of a steward or stewardship would be the life of Joseph. You remember the story of Joseph? He was thrown into a well by his brothers.

A real kind thing to do. They loved him dearly. They threw him into a well, and then they sold him into slavery. In Egypt. And so he ended up as a slave there in Pharaoh's house. And in God's providence, Joseph found favor in the eyes of Pharaoh and was appointed as a manager or a steward of sorts in Pharaoh's house.

And, of course, you know the story. He was responsible for many things in Egypt at that time. He was given a stewardship. And so back in our text here in Ephesians, Paul says, I've been given a stewardship. I've been placed into a stewardship role and given a responsibility to manage something.

That's what he tells them. And as we go on, we'll get more insight into what it is that he is to manage. But for now, let me focus in on who gave Paul this stewardship. Who gave it to him? Whose stewardship was it? Paul says that it was a stewardship of God.

It's a stewardship of God. God is the one who gave this to him. He didn't seek it out on his own initiative. This wasn't Paul's idea. It was God's idea, and he gave it to him. And notice also that it was a stewardship of God's grace. The stewardship was an expression of God's undeserved favor.

And think about that for a moment. God did not have to give Paul this stewardship. It was not something he deserved. He didn't earn it. He wasn't promoted. He didn't inherit it. It was given to him. It was a gift. And it was given out of the overflow of God's gracious character.

It's a stewardship of God's grace. And God, being a God of grace, he chose to express that grace by giving Paul this stewardship. Lastly, notice who this stewardship of God's grace was given for. It says, this stewardship of God's grace was given to me for you. Who is the you?

Well, of course, the immediate context is the Ephesian Christians, or the Christians there at Ephesus. He was writing this letter to them. The broader context would be the Gentile nations as a whole that was referred to back in chapter 2, verse 11. The Gentile nations, all the nations outside of Israel, basically all the nations but Israel.

This is who he is referring to. This stewardship was given as an expression of grace for them. And so when you put all this together, what Paul is trying to get them to understand. And what he's trying to show them is that even his imprisonment there in Rome, his tribulations that he was having to endure, were a part of this responsibility, this stewardship that God had given him as an expression of grace for them.

That's how Paul understood the trials that he was going through, this imprisonment. That was his perspective. He saw his suffering as a part of God's plan to administer grace to the Gentiles and to bring them into glory. It's an incredible perspective. And that was the first thing I think that Paul wanted them to see about this stewardship.

He wanted them to see it as an expression of God's grace for them. But there's a second one that I think we can see here that should be clear, and that is that the stewardship was given by revelation of God's mystery. We can see that here in verses 3 and 4.

It says that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. Let me just stop there. By revelation, there was made known to me the mystery. Let's talk about the word mystery. The word mystery here occurs actually six times here in the letter to the Ephesians.

Three of those times are in our passage. And maybe you noticed them as we were reading it earlier. So it's obviously a word we need to understand. The word for mystery simply means hidden, something that's hidden or a secret. Mystery is a secret. And unfortunately, we use that word a lot.

And I think our common use of the word may distort the biblical meaning of it a little. Oftentimes we use the word mystery to describe something that we simply just can't figure out. When something perplexes us, we often say, well, it's a mystery. I don't know how that came about.

Or it's beyond our understanding, at least until someone else smarter than us that's reached 40, right, that comes along and helps us figure it out, solves the mystery. Or perhaps maybe you think of a mystery novel, right, or like Sherlock Holmes, who comes in and discovers some critical piece of information to solve the mystery that no one else saw or could solve.

But that's really not the biblical idea behind mystery. Biblically speaking, a mystery is not discovered. It is not solved. It is revealed. In biblical terms, a mystery is something that is hidden. Hidden or secret, and the only way that you can come to know that secret is if the one holding the secret reveals it.

That's a mystery. Let me show you what I mean by taking you to a key passage. Look, go back to the Old Testament and turn in your Bibles to Daniel. Daniel chapter 2. You remember Daniel was taken into Babylon as a captive, him and his friends. And the king, King Nebuchadnezzar, was the king of Babylon at the time.

And King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, and it troubled him. He woke up from his sleep, having had this dream, and he was very troubled by what he saw. He didn't understand what it meant. And so, in verse 2 of chapter 2, the king gave orders to call in all the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dream.

And so he gathered all these quote-unquote wise men to come and stand before the king, and he was asking them to tell him his dream. And not only tell him what the dream meant, but to tell him what his dream was without him telling it. And of course, they all come in and are like, well, this.

That's impossible. Tell us your dream, and then I'll tell you what it means. And he's like, No, you tell me the dream and the meaning, or else I'm going to kill all of you. And of course, they couldn't do that. And in verse 10, they answered the king and they said, There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean.

Moreover, verse 11, the thing which the king demands is difficult. That's an understatement. And there is no one else who could declare it to the king except God's, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh. So they understood this. Only a god could reveal this to the king.

Of course, the king gets angry and orders that, okay, we're killing all of you. If you can't do this, and enters, here it enters in Daniel. And in verse 17, it says, Then Daniel went to his house and he informed his friends. Verse 18, so that they might request compassion from God, the God of heaven, concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Verse 19, then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. The mystery was revealed to Daniel, and in verse 27, Daniel goes and he stands before the king, and he says this: As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians, nor diviners are able to declare it to the king.

However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made it known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. Of course, he goes on and he tells the king his dream. And in verse 46, it says, King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel.

And he makes this declaration in verse 47. Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries. God is a revealer of mysteries. Mysteries are not discovered, they are revealed. Now, back in, go back to our text in Ephesians chapter 3, and we read that this stewardship of God's grace was given to Paul by the revelation of God's mystery.

See, God had a divine secret, something that only God knew, and only God could know. And in an expression of grace, Grace, he chose to reveal it to Paul. He made it known to him so that it was no longer a mystery. And he entrusted Paul with the responsibility of knowing his secret.

It's a pretty incredible responsibility. But this revealed secret, this revealed mystery, was not intended only for Paul. You see, one of the other concepts behind the word stewardship is this idea of dispensing or distributing. We saw that in the Luke chapter 12 text, this responsibility to distribute. And in this context, Paul had been placed into a position of knowing God's secret and therefore had the responsibility to distribute it, to dispense it.

And that is exactly what he did. Notice what it says at the end of verse 3. It says, as I wrote before in brief, God revealed the mystery to Paul, and then Paul wrote it down. He wrote it down now. Some of the commentators here suggest that maybe there's another letter that we don't have record of that Paul is referring to here.

I don't think you have to go there. I think it's probable that Paul was referring. To what he had written earlier in this letter. In chapter 1, verse 9, it says that he speaks of how God had revealed to us the mystery of his will in chapter 1, verse 9.

Specifically, the mystery of bringing everything in subjection to Christ in heaven and on earth. That's what he refers to there. Perhaps chapter 2:11 through 22, that whole passage is about bringing Jews and Gentiles together in Christ. And so I think when it says he wrote before in brief, I think that's what he's referring to.

But the point I'm trying to make is that God's revealed mystery was written down. And it was written down on purpose. Notice the intended purpose of this written revelation in verse 4. It says, by referring to this writing, when you read, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ.

You see, God's revealed mystery concerning Christ was written down so that it would be read and understood. Not just by Paul, but by those who would read it. And Paul anticipated this. He anticipated that his writings would be read in all the churches. And that by reading it, they too could understand God's revealed mystery.

Do you see the grace of God in that? You see, God couldn't have chosen to not reveal anything, he didn't have to, he didn't have to reveal anything to anyone, he could have kept it a secret forever. But instead, as an expression of his grace, he gave this stewardship to Paul by revealing the mystery of Christ to him and then preserving that revelation through the written word so that these Gentiles could read it and understand it.

You see, the written word became the means through which the Gentiles could understand this grace that God had for them. And you know what? It extends to us here this morning as well. Friends, don't miss this. Paul's stewardship was an expression of grace even to you and to me, because in these words that we're studying this morning, we have written down for us the revealed mystery about Christ.

And we can read it and we can understand it also and be recipients of God's grace. Oh, what an incredible expression of grace. Through the revelation of this mystery. Well, not only was this stewardship given as an expression of grace by the revelation of God's mystery, but it was also given in accordance in God's perfect timing.

God's perfect timing. Look at verse 5. Which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. Now, this should be easy to notice that there are really two distinct periods mentioned here in verse 5.

The first half of this verse speaks of a period of time where the revealed secret was not known. And then the second half of the verse speaks of this period of time where it has been made known. It has been revealed. And so let's look at this first period of time.

It says, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men. Now, these other generations, what are those? What does that refer to? Well, it would be all the prior generations, all the previous generations before Paul's generation, right? Paul's the one writing. He's speaking about these past generations.

And so it's basically since the beginning of time. Time until the first century when Paul was writing, God had chosen not to reveal his mystery. It was not known, at least not fully. And notice from whom the secret was kept. It was kept from the sons of men, who are the sons of men.

This is all of humanity. It's a reference to all of mankind, from Adam to those living there in the first century when Paul was writing. They didn't know fully about the mystery of Christ. And they couldn't. They couldn't know it because it was a mystery. And mysteries have to be revealed and revealed by God.

And God had chosen not to do that yet. But that all changed. Notice the little word, as. As. God had chosen not to reveal it to those generations as he had made known to the apostles and prophets. Now, again, I say as because there was some things known about Christ.

Christ had been revealed. The scriptures are clear. They were to expect a Messiah. All the way back in Genesis 3, we see the promise of one coming to crush the head of the. Serpent. In Genesis 12, Abraham is made a promise that in his seed the nations of the earth would be blessed.

And you go throughout the Old Testament and this promise of a Messiah, of the Christ that was coming, was clear, but not fully clear. There were some things that had not been revealed. Things like when this Messiah would come? When would Christ come? Who was he? What was his name?

How was he going to be a blessing to the nations? Some of these things were not revealed specifically in the Old Testament, and that is until God determined that it was time to reveal it. And that is what we see in these verses here. There is a second period of time.

A second period of time. It has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit. So there came a point in history when God said, now is the time to reveal the mystery concerning Christ and to fully reveal it. I think specifically that, I mean, there could be certain times maybe we could point to of when this revelation happened.

Certainly when Christ came, we begin to. To see more clearly of who Christ was. It was found in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. But I think more specifically, Paul here is referring to the coming of Christ's Spirit. And Christ sent his Spirit at Pentecost. You see, up to this time, even after the resurrection of Christ, the disciples themselves still did not fully understand the mystery concerning Christ.

You remember this? I mean, they understood he was the Christ. They declared it, You are the Christ, you are the Son of God. They declared that. But they didn't understand the full implications of his coming, of his death, and his burial, and his resurrection, and certainly the salvation of Gentiles.

That was all still very much a mystery to them. Do you remember after Jesus had resurrected, he came and he visited the disciples there and shared a meal with them? Do you remember how he responds to them? They still were lacking understanding. It says these words, Jesus says these words to them, these are my words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.

And then he opened their minds. To understand the scriptures, he opened their minds. He explained it to them. He helped them understand specifically that Christ would suffer and that he would rise again from the dead on the third day, and that the repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

And you are witnesses of these things. And behold, I'm sending forth the promise of my Father upon you, and you're to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high. And that's exactly what happened, right? The book of Acts lays this out for us, specifically in chapter 2, where they're all sitting around, and the Spirit of God comes upon them and fills them with Christ's Spirit.

And what do they do? They immediately begin proclaiming Christ with clarity. Their understanding had been opened. They understood clearly who Christ was and that He came not only as a Savior of Israel, but of the nations, of the nations. The gospel was for them as well. And again, you read through the book of Acts, and it's just this great unfolding of that truth.

And so, God's mission. About Christ had been revealed to the holy apostles and the prophets through his Spirit. God's secret was out, and he intended for it to be communicated through the apostles, through the prophets, to the ends of the earth, to the nations. And so, what's Paul's point?

Paul's point was that his stewardship role, right, his responsibility in all of this, including his imprisonment, was simply part of God's perfect timing in the revealing of the mystery of Christ, and the revealing of the mystery of Christ for the nations, for the Gentiles, so that they could read it and understand it and be recipients of the grace that is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ.

That's what he wanted them to see. And so he tells them: look, if you understand this, you will not have reason to be discouraged at my tribulations or your tribulations because they're for your glory. Lastly, the moments we have left together, I want to show you that Paul wanted the Ephesians to understand that this stewardship was given to communicate God's message.

And fortunately for us, we don't have to guess what that message is. He's very clear. In verse 6, it says, to be specific, here's the message: that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Through the gospel. This was God's mystery that had been hidden from all the other generations of men in the past, but had now been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This was it. Listen, the mystery wasn't that the Gentiles were now included, by the way.

That we knew. And we knew that God would bless the nations through Christ. But what they didn't know, and what was revealed here, is that God's plan made the Gentiles, you and me, equal participants in the blessings, in the promise of blessing that he made to Abraham. Notice how Paul describes the Gentiles' newly revealed status.

He says, the Gentiles are now fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, fellow partakers. That word fellow just simply means with or together with, to be joined with, and it implies equality. And this is significant because for thousands of years, the Gentiles have been separated from God and from his people.

They were not treated as part of God's people. If you recall, Paul brought this to their attention in chapter 2. He reminded them that as Gentiles, they were separated from Christ, excluded from Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

That's how he described them. And for centuries, that was their status. But now, with the revealing of the mystery of Christ, their status as Gentiles could be changed. They no longer had to be separated from God and his people. Rather, they could become equal participants in the promise of God's blessing.

Furthermore, it was revealed that this participation in the promises was only possible in Christ. It's only possible in Christ Jesus. Do you see that in our text? In Christ Jesus. That's where this fellowship, this joining together takes place. In order to be a fellow participant of these promises, they had to be in a relationship with Jesus Christ.

So, how does one enter into a relationship? Relationship with Jesus Christ. How do you become a fellow partaker as he describes here? Notice the last phrase. It's through the gospel. It's through the gospel message. And in the gospel, according to Mark, Jesus sums up the gospel message in two words.

In Mark 1:15, Jesus says, the gospel is to repent and believe. Repent and believe. Our pastor preached that. It took a number of years. I don't remember how many years it took to get through Mark. But that's one sermon that's always stuck with me. The gospel is so simple.

You repent. Be repenting and be believing, I believe is how you put it. And that is how one enters into a relationship with Jesus Christ. You must repent. You must be turning from your life of sin and acknowledging your need to be saved. You see, God tells us that every one of us here this morning has sinned.

We have broken God's law, and the penalty for breaking God's law is eternal death. That's what we deserve. And when a person sins against God, when you sinned against God, your soul was instantly separated from God. The Bible calls this spiritual death. Spiritual death. And so we must acknowledge.

That this is true of us apart from Christ. We are all spiritually dead, spiritually separated from God outside of Christ. But the gospel, the good news, is that you do not have to remain that way. You don't have to remain separated from God. There is a way to be united to Him, and it's through believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.

You must believe that there is no other way to be united to God except through Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. It's the only way. Jesus Christ is the only person that God will accept as payment for your sin. He will not accept your death. It's not good enough.

There's nothing that you can do. There's no amount of good things you can do to pay for your sins. Therefore, you must come to God and you must ask Him to forgive you. Not because of anything you have done, not because you have deserved it, but because of what Christ did on the cross 2,000 years ago.

He paid the penalty for your sin so that you do not have to bear that guilt. And so when you come to Christ and you acknowledge these truths and you turn from your sin and you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, He will Instantly change your status, and he will declare you to be a fellow heir, a fellow member of the body of Christ, a fellow partaker of the promise of blessing for all eternity.

And if that's not good news, if that's not the gospel, I don't know what is. It is good news, and by believing that good news, you enter into a relationship with God and you become fellow partakers with Him of the promises. So Paul saw himself as a steward of God's grace.

And friends, you need to understand that you also here this morning have been given a stewardship. You've been given a stewardship. What have we been given? Well, many things. You've been given a body, even a 40-year-old body. You've been given it to steward it and to steward it well.

You've been given financial resources to steward, and we're expected to steward them well. You've been given time, some longer than others, but if you're here this morning, you still have time. You must steward it well. You've been given relationships. God has given You relationships. Maybe you're a husband or a wife or a child, a friend.

You have relationships in your life that God has given you to steward, and so you are expected to steward them well. And you've been given the gospel. You've been given the gospel message, the revealed mystery concerning Christ. You have heard about that today. You've been given that today.

And you and I have a responsibility to steward that as well. And if you're here this morning and you are not a Christian, maybe that's you. Say, no, I don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and I know it. You still have a responsibility to respond to the gospel that you've heard this morning.

Because one day, in the not-so-distant future, you're going to have to give an account for that stewardship, for that response. And so I call you to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. If you're here this morning and you are a Christian, maybe you've been in a relationship with Christ for many years, then the reality is that you are also a steward of God's grace, like Paul.

You've been given the great responsibility. To distribute the mystery of Christ that has been revealed. And a responsibility to take the gospel of Christ, the gospel message, to the ends of the earth. Friends, this is the means that God has determined to extend grace to the nations. And so my prayer is that we would all be faithful stewards of that gospel, that gospel of grace.

And that you would let this reality of being stewards of God's grace shape your life. That, regardless of the decade of life that you may find yourself in here this morning, that it would transform how you see the circumstances of your life, the purpose of your life, and that you would be a participant in what God is doing in the world today.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, God, we are grateful for your word and this constant reminder of what you are doing in the world. God, we're grateful for the revelation that you have given, that you have not kept the gospel a secret, but you have shown it to us, you have made it known to us in a way that we can understand it.

God, we are eternally grateful for that. God, help us be stewards of your grace as we go out of here this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.