And if you've got a Bible open there, please
keep it open at Ephesians 3. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, we thank you that you love us. We thank
you that you care for us. Please help us to see
that you are wise, that you are good, and that
you are in control of all things. And we ask
this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, we've all got
guilty pleasures, don't we? One of my guilty
pleasures has to be heist movies. I don't know
if you're into heist movies. I love a good heist
movie. Things like The Sting, The Italian Job,
and one of my favourites, Ocean's Eleven. The
sequel's not as good, but the original? Excellent.
And what happens in a good heist movie? Well,
in a good heist movie, it looks like everything's
going wrong, doesn't it? Something bad tends
to happen and you think, oh no, they've planned
this amazing heist and it's all falling apart,
it's all going wrong and then it turns out there's
a twist that everything going wrong was actually
all part of the plan. I mean, spoilers, if you've
not seen Oceans 11, just put your fingers in
your ears now. There's a great scene near the
end of Oceans 11. They've broken into the big
vault. They're taking all the millions and billions
of dollars in the casino, and there's a SWAT
team there to get them. And you think, oh, no,
it's over. It turns out the robbers are the SWAT
team. It's cool things like that. Sorry if I've
spoiled Oceans 11, but it's been out for a while.
You should have watched it by now. Anyway. Now,
when the first time you watch that, you feel
this tension, don't you? You feel this stressful,
because you don't know what the plan is. But
the second time you watch it, you go, I'm as
cool as a cucumber, because I know exactly what's
going to happen. And it's the same for the characters.
You know, as they're doing it, they put on that
they're very upset and scared, but actually,
you know, deep down, they're really calm. because
they know the plan. Knowing the plan changes
everything, doesn't it? It's the same for us,
isn't it? If we know the plan of what's going
on in our lives, it takes the sting out of things.
It stops us from panicking. It stops us from
getting downhearted. I mean, think of some hard
things in life. When you lose a job, when someone
you love dies, When a relationship ends, you
know, think of a particular challenge or tragedy.
That sort of pain hurts. I think it always hurts.
But if you know there's a plan behind it, it
stings far less. You're able to be calm. It's
less overwhelming. It's also true for churches.
You know, churches go through hard things. A
church could get booted out of a building. People
in the church could be criticised and attacked
unfairly. A church leader could be cancelled,
especially in this day and age. And that hurts.
It hurts when things like that happen. But it
doesn't hit you for six. It doesn't knock you
out of the park if you can see that it's all
part of the plan. Now that's a similar situation
for the Christians that Paul is writing to in
Ephesians. Take a look at verses 1 and 13. In
verse 1, Paul says, for this reason I, Paul,
the prisoner of Christ Jesus, for the sake of
you Gentiles. And he goes on this little sidebar,
this little side quest about what does it mean
to be a prisoner of Christ Jesus and his stewardship
of the gospel to explain to them his suffering.
And he finishes by saying this, I ask you therefore
not to be discouraged because of my sufferings
for you, which are your glory. Now put yourself
in their shoes of these Christians. Paul is their
apostle and he's in chains, most likely under
house arrest in Rome. But they'd be thinking,
well, this can't be. Paul is our apostle. He's
the one who's taking the gospel to the world
and saying Gentiles can come in. And was Paul
wrong? You know, why did God let this happen?
Is God really with Paul? Maybe the Gentiles aren't
included. Maybe we're not saved by grace. You
could imagine the doubts, the despair, the confusion
that Paul's chains would bring to them. But Paul
seeks to show them that it's okay. that it's
all going according to plan. Actually that everything
that is happening is for their glory. So how
are we to make sense of this? How do we make
sense of things when everything is going wrong?
Well, here's the main point that we see in our
passage today. When everything is going wrong,
it's actually going according to plan. When everything
is going wrong, it's actually going according
to plan. And if you know there's a plan and roughly
what the plan is, it keeps you calm, it keeps
you at peace. And that's whether you're going
through personal trials and challenges like Paul
was, you know, him being in chains, or whether
your church is facing a crisis that breeds disappointment
and doubt, just like the Ephesians were going
through. The key is we need this narrative in
our head. We need to see that this is the truth,
that everything is going according to plan. So
what's the plan we need to see? Well, that's
what Paul lays out in this section. Three things
we're going to see. God's secret plan has now
been revealed. God's secret plan is to bless
the nations and God's secret plan displays God's
wisdom. That's what Paul wants us to understand.
about God's plan. So here's the first thing we're
going to look at. God's secret plan has now been
revealed. If you've got your Bible there, come
with me to verse one of chapter three. For this
reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus,
for the sake of you Gentiles, surely you've 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, which was not made known to people
in other generations, as it has now been revealed
by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets.
So Paul's saying, the other apostles, and he's
saying, I think here New Testament prophets,
because if it was the Old Testament prophets,
well, he's saying this hasn't been revealed to
people in other generations, but you can debate
me on that later if you like. But he's saying
the other apostles and New Testament prophets
and himself, they're preaching the gospel. And
he's saying this is a very significant moment
in salvation history within God's plan. Because
God's mystery, his secret was now to be revealed.
That word mystery really means secret. It's a
bit like my middle name. Hands up if you know
my middle name. Okay, there's a few. Good on
yous. You know, these guys up the front who know
my middle name, they only know it because it's
been told to them. It's not a mystery. It's not
like that they sat down, you know, in their nice
couch at home and went, I'm going to ponder the
deep mysteries of the universe and work out Brendan's
middle name. No, it's not that sort of mystery.
It's a secret. That's what the word means. It's
a secret. It's a hidden thing. that needs to
be revealed, just like my middle name. It's James,
by the way, if you wanted to know. Now, in previous
generations, Paul's saying that secret was hidden.
We got some sneak peeks, we got a bit of a foretaste,
some previews in God's promises. But no one had
seen the whole plan and how the plan would come
together. The secret had not yet been revealed.
And that's Paul's job. is his job is to go and
reveal that secret to people, to tell them God's
plan. Think of when Apple do a product launch.
You know, they've planned and developed a new
product, you know, the eye toaster or whatever's
next or, you know, some other iPhone. And it's
all kept under wraps, isn't it? No one knows
what's going on. No one knows about it. There
might be hints, you know, there's a product launch
coming up on this day. Make sure you tune in.
But no one knows what's happening. And then finally,
it's launch day, where the new product is unveiled
and, you know, Tim Cook did it okay, but no one
does it better than Steve Jobs with his turtleneck
thing and he's great with that. But the secret
would be revealed. Oh, it's the new eye toaster.
Look at it. It's amazing. It butters your toast
for you. It does all the things. And then what
would happen? Once the secrets revealed, the
marketing guys would work hard to spread it out.
Hey, we're going to tell everyone about the eye
toaster and, you know, everyone wants to buy
in. Now, Paul is saying it's a bit like that.
God has appointed him as the head of marketing
for the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul's job is
to blab the secret to the world, to tell the
world that the secret has been revealed and you
need to know it. But now that Paul's in chains,
it brings his credentials into question. The
doubts are growing. Can Paul be trusted? Is he
really sent by God? And in verses two to three,
Paul's trying to say to them, you know my story.
I was an enemy of Jesus. And then I experienced
God's grace. Jesus revealed himself to me. And
now I'm promoting him, which is an amazing thing
because Paul's message is of grace, but he's
also the medium as one who was against Jesus
now on Team Jesus. The medium is the message,
isn't it? Paul's the perfect person to be talking
about God's grace to the world. And in verse
four to five, he's saying, look at my content.
It's good. It's beautiful. It's true. And it's
not totally unique. It's actually consistent
with Jesus and the other apostles and with the
Old Testament promises. What Paul is saying is,
yes, you can trust me. I am God's spokesman.
Just because I'm getting persecuted doesn't mean
that what I'm offering is fake or phony. It doesn't
mean that God's not in it. Now, how's this help
us? Well, picture the uni student doing an arts
degree. And you get some uni lecturers who love
to bag out Paul, don't they? Oh, Paul, he was
a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur. How can he be
from God? See, they can't lock Paul up today,
so many try to silence him in other ways. You
can imagine that uni student, when he hears the
lecturer doing that, it'd be destabilising. There'd
be doubt and discouragement that would start
to grow. But if they've read Paul, if they know
how Jesus used Paul to include the Gentiles and
revolutionise the world, if they know that ministry
in the Bible is cross -shaped, that it's suffering
now and glory later, They won't be thrown. It's
the same for any of us. When people try to cancel
Paul, if we know those things, we won't be thrown.
We'll actually go, oh, that's right. It's all
going according to plan. And it's not just seeing
Paul in God's plan that guards our hearts and
keeps us from discouragement. It's seeing us
in it too. And that's the next thing we need
to see. God's secret plan has now been revealed.
That's Paul's job. He's the marketing spokesman
to the Gentiles. But what is the plan? Well,
God's secret plan is to bless the nations, is
to bless the Gentiles, is to bless us. Have a
look with me at verse six of chapter three. This
mystery, this secret is that through the gospel,
the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel.
Members together of one body and sharers together
in the promise in Christ Jesus. Together, together,
together. Jews, Gentiles, everyone together in
Christ. And Paul says, 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 the Lord's people,
this grace was given me to preach to the Gentiles
the boundless riches of Christ. and to make plain
to everyone the administration, the stewardship
of this mystery, this secret which for ages past
was kept hidden in God who created all things.
So the big secret, the secret plan that Paul
is revealing is that all the promises for Israel
have now been given to Gentile Christians. Jesus
died to pay for our sins so that anyone could
be included into God's people and so that anyone
could receive the boundless, unsearchable riches
of Israel's Christ, the Messiah. Now, what are
those boundless riches? We looked a little bit
in chapter one. It's forgiveness. It's redemption.
It's an inheritance. It's God's spirit. It's
all those Old Testament promises for Israel.
They've been given to us who follow Jesus. No
matter who we are, no matter what we've done,
no matter where we're from. And that was always
God's plan. Now sometimes I don't think we realise
what we have in these riches. It's a bit like
a family in New York that I read about a while
ago. They went to a garage sale and they purchased
an antique bowl. They thought, yeah, that looks
really nice. We might get that. But they became
curious about its origins and took it to an assessor.
Turns out it was crafted in the Northern Song
dynasty and is very rare. They ended up selling
this thing they picked up at a garage sale. They
sold it for $2 .25 million. That's why it pays
to go to garage sales and thrift shops. But they
were rich and they didn't even know it. It's
like that for us, isn't it? We're rich, but often
we just don't see how rich we actually are. But
when Christians see what they have in Christ,
what they have now, what it means to belong to
Jesus, and what we will have when Jesus returns,
When we see that, we can thrive in the midst
of all sorts of stress, pain, and uncertainty.
Because when you see God's plan, when you see
what you have because of it, what you will have,
you don't sweat the small stuff, do you? And
then you look around and you go, actually comparatively,
compared to what I have in Jesus, it's all small
stuff. Now I say, it's easy for me to say that,
but I struggle. I easily get stressed out. I
easily get preoccupied with problems. And so
I need to keep doing that thing of seeing the
riches I have in Christ, seeing what I really
have in Him. And when I do, it helps me so much.
And so what do I do? I try to set up rituals
and habits that remind me of what I have in Christ.
So I'm having an anxious thought. What do I need
to do? Okay, look up. God's got a plan. God's
got this. I may not know all the intricate details,
but I know He's in control and He's working out
His good plan of bringing me to glory in Christ
Jesus. If I'm facing disappointment, you know
what? I need to sit down and write a list of
things that I'm thankful for. Actually, literally
count my blessings. Pause and do it. So that
I can see again what I have in Christ. I mean,
I've got lots of great things in my life anyway,
but to see what I have in Christ again And when
you know, I'm there in the shower and feeling
a bit blue to think to myself I'm rich beyond
comprehension because of the cross and to just
think about those riches and whether it's a good
day or a bad day, to try and think about that
in the rhythms of my day. Is that what you're
doing? Do you take time to reflect on God's plan,
to reflect on the riches you have in Christ Jesus?
Is that part of your daily rhythms? But to keep
our hearts from discouragement, there's also
One other thing we need to see. We need to see
the purpose of God's plan. God's secret plan
displays God's wisdom. That's why God did his
plan. God's secret plan displays God's wisdom.
Come with me to chapter 3 verse 10. His intent,
God's intent, was that now 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 that
he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In
him and through faith in him we may approach
God with freedom and confidence. Now isn't God
amazing? He planned all this plan back in eternity
past. And he did so to show his multi -faceted
wisdom in the heavenly realms. So all the spirits
and demons and everyone in the heavenly realms,
they see how awesome God is. They see how glorious
and wise and amazing God is because of his plan.
And God showed by Jesus and by his death on the
cross, how great he is. But get this, also by
The church. Now the cross I get, I can see how,
yeah, God's plan is awesome by the cross. I mean,
it was supposed to be defeat, but it was actually
salvation and victory. Brilliant plan. But the
church? How does that display God's amazing wisdom?
Sometimes the church looks more like folly, doesn't
it? I mean the Satanic spiritual forces, they
look quite shrewd a lot of the time. They get
people within the church to rebel and divide
and there's just problems, horrible things that
happen within the church. And yet God created
a new humanity in Christ. Reconciled to God,
reconciled to each other. the existence of saved
sinners, with very little in common a lot of
the time, yet united in Christ, it displays to
the cosmos that God can't be outsmarted or outplayed.
It shows the universe how great God is that He
would take something so weak and frail and vulnerable
and hold it together and unite it together. That's
a great plan, isn't it? I used to love playing
chess with my grandad. I don't think I ever beat
him. And I think part of the reason is, I mean,
he was very smart and me less so, but part of
the reason is he would just see my moves before
I did. Maybe it's my ADHD and I just sort of
want to move all the time, but he would just
sort of see things way ahead of me. And sometimes
he'd even go, oh, yeah, you know, I'll start
without a queen so that you can just, you know,
have a chance. Oh, thanks. Thanks, Pops. And
he'd still smash me. No matter what I did, he
was always just too good. I could never beat
him. Now, God's like that with his plan, but
infinitely greater. He's planned it all out.
And he's done it before eternity passed. He's
so glorious, wise and unparalleled. When you
look at the church, when you look at what he
did in Jesus and in the church, you can go, wow,
God is great, God is awesome. And if you believe
God's like that, and can I just say there is
plenty of proof that he is, it changes the narrative
in your head when things go wrong. One church
I worked in, in WA, we had a narcissistic pastor
who burned me and many other people. He had an
affair and it just sort of spiralled down after
that. It was awful. It's easy to think, why would
God let that happen? Has God been outsmarted
here? I think of a friend who, he was at Bible
college with me. He ended up doing ministry for
a while and then heading to China as a missionary.
And just before he was about to go with his family,
he got cancer and died. And it's easy to think,
God, you know, have you been outsmarted? I thought
he was going to go and do great things in China.
I think of a Christian group at a uni in Perth
I know of, for a while they were unable to hold
meetings. They made some comment in one of their
growth groups. I think they had little Bible
studies meeting at the uni. Someone made a comment
about homosexuality. They got shut down and then
monitored for quite a while. Why God? I thought,
you know, aren't you with them in that? Now,
I don't know what was going on with the plan
in each of these scenarios. I'm not God. In the
rear -view mirror, I can guess. Sometimes I can
see, but often I can't. But we know the broad
plan, don't we? We know the one who is the planner.
We know enough of the plan, even though we don't
know all the intricacies, to remain calm, to
remain confident, to remain joyful, even when
things go wrong. for us individually and things
for our church won't always go well. We need
to expect that. But it doesn't mean the ultimate
outcome has shifted, does it? God's not fallen
asleep at the wheel when things go wrong. And
we shouldn't let that throw us when things go
wrong. It may suck, it may be horrible, it may
feel awful, but it's not pointless and it's not
random. In Acts 8, After Stephen is martyred,
persecution in Jerusalem for Christian ramps
up massively. The church in Jerusalem is scattered.
And you'd think, what a disaster! What's going
to become of the church now? No, it was God's
plan. Because what happens? I mean, they'd all
been sitting in Jerusalem for ages. They were
told to go out to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and
the ends of the earth. Well, God got them going,
didn't he? The gospel goes out to Samaria and
beyond because they're scattered. I think of
a lady in Geraldton that I knew. She had a miscarriage.
It was tragic. It was awful. And I don't want
to take away from the pain of that horrible experience.
That would have been so hard. But God used that
to bring her to faith in Jesus. I think of times
where I've had burnout. It sucks, it's awful,
but it was good for me because it forced me to
face immaturity in myself that I needed to deal
with and how to run my life better. There are
awful things that we go through and yet God is
wisely orchestrating them for a good purpose.
It's all going to plan. We may not always see
what the plan is, but we know there's a plan.
And there is great comfort in knowing there's
a plan. But the hard part is remembering that
there is a plan when everything is going wrong.
How are you going to remember that there is a
plan when things are hard? Memorising scripture
has helped me. You might have come across one
of my favourite verses, I think it should be
one of everybody's favourite verses, is Romans
8 .28. You know that one? We know that in everything
God works for the good of those who love him.
That's one you just want to drill deep into your
heart. You know, sometimes it's even worth pausing
and just picturing your pain as part of a blueprint.
Oh yeah, okay, God's got his, yep, there's a
plan and my pain's here, but it's actually part
of something bigger. Oh, he's gonna bring glory
to himself through the church, through Jesus.
Sometimes it's crying out to God. Father, I don't
get it. But help me to trust you have a plan
here. What are you going to do to remind yourself
of God's plan when everything is going wrong?
Well, let's wrap up. We saw three things today
about God's plan. God's secret plan has now been
revealed. God's secret plan is to bless the nations
and God's secret plan displays God's wisdom.
So what are we meant to think when things go
wrong? We're meant to see that everything is
like a heist movie. Here's the big thing from
our passage. When everything is going wrong,
it's actually going according to plan. And the
clearest proof of this is the cross. People's
sin was so evil that Jesus came into the world
and what did they do? They went, we're going
to murder him. He's the the perfect righteous
son of God the author of life. What are we going
to do? Let's murder him because we don't like
what he's saying And yet it wasn't random It
wasn't that evil won the day it was God was in
total control that was always his plan that his
son would die on the cross and bring salvation
to the earth And it's the same with anything
else. Just because Paul is suffering doesn't
mean that God is not with him or has abandoned
him. Paul's suffering was, did you see in verse
13, on our behalf. It was for us. Paul was suffering
so that many Gentiles could be saved. His sufferings
reflected Christ's suffering because that's what
happens when you're on about the things of God.
You're going to be... persecution from a hostile
world. His sufferings were not a sign of God's
displeasure that God was not with him. His sufferings
authenticated his ministry. Everything was going
according to God's plan. Actually, think about
this. His imprisonment is why we have this letter.
God's got a good plan, isn't it? Paul wrote this.
so we'd know the plan and so it would soothe
our doubts and disappointments. But what's this
mean for us? Well, today I'm trying to prepare
you. Because there are going to be hard times
ahead for us both individually and as a church.
I can't know what they are. Persecution, sickness,
division, sin, disappointments of all kind. They
will happen at some point. Now, if you're not
a Christian here today, I want to say to you,
where do you turn? Where are you going to find
answers? If it's not God, then the world is just
one scary random place. Come have a chat. I'd
love to have a coffee with you and talk about
it. Show you how knowing Jesus is so much better.
But for the Christian, when the pain hits and
the doubt floods in, there's a better narrative
we need to tell ourselves. Yes, we feel the pain.
But then we need to remember when everything's
going wrong, it's actually going according to
plan. Our infinitely wise God is in control.
Say you lose your job. Especially because you're
following Jesus. You're acting with integrity.
You won't do things that are wrong. You won't
lie. You won't cover things up. And so you lose
your job. Say your family won't talk to you because
you share Jesus with them and they don't like
that. They hate that you would share Jesus with
them. Say there's a change of policy here at
the school and I'm not expecting this to happen,
but hey, anything's possible. Say we get booted
out. Many things in life can go wrong for us
in our church. I'm sure you can think of things
that have gone wrong in your life or that could
go wrong. But if things go wrong, what will you
do? What will we do? Be easy to freak out. It'd
be easy to go into our shell and become risk
averse. No, we don't want to share Jesus with
anyone. That's going to be hard. It'd be easy
to get down and depressed. It'd be easy to jump
into fixing things, you know, thinking we can
do it in our own strength. But first and foremost,
what we need to do is tend to our hearts, isn't
it? Feel the pain, reframe it, see that when
everything's going wrong, it's actually going
according to plan, and pray. And support each
other in that. See, for God's people, life is
like a heist movie. Even when it's going wrong,
it's all going according to plan. The hard part
is remembering that. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly
Father, we thank you so much that in the chaos,
the pain, the randomness of life, we know that
you have a plan sitting behind it all. We thank
you that it is a Christ -centred plan, a cross
-centred plan. We thank you that it is a beautiful
plan that includes your church, that in all our
weakness, in all our failures, in all our pain,
we thank you that you are bringing about wonderful,
beautiful things, that you are displaying your
wisdom to the universe and bringing glory to
your name. Thank you that you've created us to
be one. Thank you that you are bigger than our
bad moments and our failures. Thank you that
you are using everything to bring about your
good purposes. And when things are hard, when
things are painful, when we are tempted to doubt
and be discouraged, help us to remember again
your good plan. And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen.