Unashamed with the Robertson Family - Ep 900 | Missy Has Surgery on Her Finger & Jase Sympathizes by Accidentally Breaking His Own

Episode Date: June 6, 2024

While Missy has surgery on one of her fingers, Jase has his own sympathy pains when he accidentally slams his pinky finger in a door. Phil is excited to dive into Ephesians after the guys give a quick rundown of the end of Acts, and Zach points out the dangers of “systematic theology” that is often pulled from the early chapters of Ephesians. In this episode: Acts 20-28; Ephesians 1-3; John 17, verse 3; 1 Corinthians 15, verses 53-56; 1 Corinthians 21, verse 18; Romans 4, verse 25; Colossians 1, verse 27 -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I am unashamed. What about you? Welcome back to Unashamed. I feel like I'm back where I belong, Jay's. I'm back in studio. I've been gone a while because we were gone for a bit. At least I had surgery. I was in New Orleans, which, by the way, turned out to be a great experience. The hospital, the people down there were fantastic. Lisa's doing amazing. I had to raise a hallelujah yesterday because the last drain came came out. You know, they have to drain your body when you go through something like she went through. And you don't realize it, but you got six drains coming out of your body.

And then you got to deal with that. So that's what, that's been my life here the last 10 days. So the plumbing was pulled out. Plumbing was pulled out. Good old, good old Paula Godwin, who's, she's a respiratory therapist, but everybody in our church community and our friendship, all our friendship relationships, treat Paul as if she's our nurse, her confidant, all that. So she came over yesterday.

Because I wasn't much. She's the one you want on your team during the apocalypse. She's fantastic. That's right. She could function as the physician, even though she's not a medical doctor. Yep. I would trust her in a crisis for her to do just about any time. So good.

And then, of course, John came over yesterday. And so we watched our live stream for DebFR. And that was just good to be back with even from a computer. to be back with the church family. So Lisa's doing great, by the way. Thank you again for all the support and prayers. You guys are awesome. So it's good to be back home, kind of in the back in the service.

Oh, we missed you. I know. It's been a while. It's been a minute. So I told Maddie, you know, it's been a minute. We're glad Lisa's doing well. Amazingly well. So I actually thought, you know,

Missy had a little procedure done, which I didn't bring up in light of what was going on with Lisa because Missy had a little surgery on her finger, which doesn't sound very bad, but the deadening that happened and she had to go under anesthesia. And so with that, you know, she was down for two or three days. I would go over a finger. And during that same time period, I broke my little pinky.

You see where I was. Oh, yeah. Now, this is what happens when you get your pinky in between a door that you're closing. and you get your whole body out of the door except the pinky. So it always reminds me of the illustration in First Corinthians 12, and it's like we're all members, parts of the body of some are different. But when one, even if you think, well, I may just be a pinky in the kingdom of God, but when that pinky gets slammed in a door, the rest of the body suffers.

That's exactly right. That's good. You realize the value of everything. Yeah, so we had to go through that. And so which was crazy, but we're glad you're back. And I have a little breaking news, so a lot of you watch our Duck Family Treasurer's show. They've aired two seasons on Fox Nation and July 26. Come on, we got to.

Yep. July 26th, because we're in June now, so this gives you time to plan accordingly. The best show that very few people have seen, in my opinion, Duck Family Treasure, they will drop the first half of season three. So I think it's exciting. It'll be exciting. Yeah, and I know y'all had some good episodes in there just from remembering discussions when you were. Yeah, the show got better as it went along.

Yeah, me by the end of it. It was good anyway. I was a fan. I have been a fan the whole time. So now, and I was going to mention at the end of June, I think it's the 21st and second maybe, Lisa and I are going to attempt, depending on her recovery, to be in Kansas City at the Pebble Creek Assembly of God. So doing a little marriage thing there for that church. So if you're in that area, check with the folks at Pebble Creek and see about that.

that so we'll see how that goes so that's why i wore the shirt today dig it dig it you have to be a treasure hunter to understand that but it's rooted in the principles yeah jep stopped by yesterday he had played golf he said you were three groups behind him i was playing golf and uh so he's or maybe that was saturday one day but anyway he uh he was telling me that he shot 81 oh really yeah so he must be uh he said he was under through six holes at one point there's right he uh he was 100 through six holes at one point there's around so yeah well uh when you're fired up about shooting a 81 that means the bar was low that's right so that's exactly right all right so tell us about what we're doing we're doing something i think kind of interesting you know it's i was talking yesterday when john was over

at the house and because we got into david bromley one of our guys that our church was preaching and we're kind of taking all these threads of discussion that's the kind of the nice thing about it when you're watching it, you can have like these many conversations about what you're here. But I told John, I was like, you know, I was telling about what we're doing on the podcast. And we've been in the Book of Acts. And we sort of been like doing these little, what I would call sorties, like when we have bowls on when Paul was in Corinth. And we didn't do a full study in the Corinthian letters because we've already done it on the podcast. But we would go and look at several of the themes from the books, the epistles of first and second Corinthians,

while Paul was in Corinth in Acts. And it just struck me, I thought, man, I wish back when I was teaching, you know, working full time for the church, that I had just taken a couple of years and taught the book of Acts. But then every time Paul would get to a location where he planted a church in the city, I would have gone and studied the epistles because I feel like what we've been doing, and it started from our study in Luke, is you set the context so much better for what is going on in that city and in that church and in Paul's mind when he writes these letters as opposed

to going and studying these letters as if they're independent from a city and a context in the situation. I couldn't agree more. And so what happened was we taught acts, but then later on, we taught Luke and then we all felt bad about when we studied Acts because we thought if we would have done this right after Luke. It makes so much more sense. It really does.

And so now that we've studied Acts, we're like, well, wait a minute. Now the book of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians is coming into more light. Exactly. So we've decided to jump into Ephesians because Ephesians is a pretty deep book, especially the first three chapters. And I think in the context of where we're at, it would be perfect timing. So we got to, you know, because you guys have been follows on our study, we got to Acts 20, which is Paul's actually left Ephesus, but he stops back, he gets close enough where he stops back by for like a final farewell. And that's where we ended our last study was in Acts 20.

And so we're going to take that and jump right into the book of Ephesians. But just to give you a little bit, for those of you, they'd be new to the podcast, because you're like, wait a minute, what happens to the rest of the book of Acts? Paul's going to go to Jerusalem. He's going to give an amazing sermon and speech. He gets arrested again. And this time, though, he appeals all the way to Caesar. And so he's going to be taken by ship. There's a shipwreck.

There's a lot of intrigues. So definitely you want to finish reading the Book of Acts. And he winds up in Rome at the very end. And that's where his life is going to end. So if you were kind of following along in the life of Paul, we're basically in the last, you know, seven or eight years of his life. And that's where he's going to write the book of Ephesians. is from Rome.

They call him the prison letters because he wrote Ephesians, Philemon, which is a little personal story about a man, Philippians, and Colossians. So that's kind of a reset. I just want to say this, too. And look, I'm not, I think there is a place to get the facts right and get, you know, maps up and where he went. But that's generally what the last eight chapters of Acts turn into. Yep.

But if you read the very last verse in Acts, it says boldly and without hindrance, he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ. It just goes through all the details in the cities of that fact. And what's happened to us in studying Luke and then Acts,

those two principles declaring Jesus as Lord and preaching about the kingdom of God and what that entails. It's true. That's the power of the message. And we're a part of this. So that's why I thought when I looked at Ephesians with that in mind, and what I mean by the kingdom, Jesus being exalted to the right hand of God as king of kings,

pouring out his spirit on human beings, and them responding to Jesus as Lord and receiving the indwelling of the endwelling of the, the Spirit, in essence, becoming the body of Christ. He's the head. He's the king. We're the kingdom. And so when you read the book of Ephesians, because it brings that up many times about Jesus exalted with the power above all dominion, authority, it really makes you realize, oh, this was God's plan, the first three chapters in detail, and this is how he makes his presence known through that body of Christ, which is the last three chapters of Ephesians.

Because I saw your outline of it, but I just thought that as the outline. Jesus is exalted king. We have his spirit. You know, the first three chapters about God's plan and having that happen, and you have the response. Yeah.

No, that's it. And it's the, you know, we talk about one of our sponsors, balance of nature. We talk about a balanced diet. But Paul's approach in the book of Ephesians is a balanced blend of what we have to know so that we can believe the right thing, but then also how we live. And so it really splits nicely. And I'll just challenge you guys that are listening, because you're going to hear us today.

And then, of course, tomorrow as it's released, to read the book of Ephesians for the next few days. It's only six chapters long. I've read it several times the last couple of weeks. One of the best things you can do is read the whole thing in context, because when we dive into this study, having that big picture of all six chapters is going to help you. So that's a good way to study any book in the Bible, but especially this one. Well, I think what we've all concluded here, I said this before we started airing today, is that in the past, we've all stressed what God has done so much, and we don't really talk about what he's doing. Yep. And so we come up with these statements, you know, what would Jesus do?

But even asking that question, we're acting like it's a minute. It's in the past. It's in the past. It's a million miles away. And so I'm here. It's not to minimize that. Yeah. Just to say that the kingdom is here, a good definition of the kingdom is,

Dallas Willard says it like this. It's the rule and the reign of God. It's everything that's under. under the rule and the reign of God. And I think that's beautiful because we tend to focus on, and look, I've got to be careful by even saying this. So I want to preface this. Be careful, Zach. Be careful.

This is warning. This is not to minimize the atonement. But what we are saying is that there is life beyond. There is like the atonement of Christ is a means to an end. The end is union with Christ. It's life in Christ. It's what First Peter calls it's a participation in the divine nature. And so often, you're so right, Jay's when you said that before the show started,

that we're so focused on what Christ did, but we just hang out there that we forget John 173 that the eternal life is now. It's to know the one true God in Jesus Christ's son whom we sent. It's not just something that happened in the past. It's something that's continuing to happen through his mediating work as he sits at the right hand of the Father and as the Holy Spirit indwells us and reveals to us this inner life of God. That's good. Well, it took them a while. They arranged the last meeting that's recorded. They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, came in Laura's numbers to the place where he was staying from morning till the evening.

all day. He explained and declared to them the kingdom of God and tried to convince them about Jesus from the law of Moses and from the prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe. They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made his final statement. The Holy Spirit spoke the truth. This is the final statement that he records. the Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your forefathers when he said to Isaiah the prophet and he quotes Isaiah

go to these people and say you'll ever be hearing but you'll never understanding you'll be ever seeing but you never perceiving for these people's heart has become calloused this is a wrap-up of what Paul figured out they become calloused they hardly hear with their ears and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with the heart, what their heart said and turn, and I would heal them. But that's coming out of Isaiah 6th.

But it looks to me like the last thing he says, boldly without hindrance, he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus. But it's a tough cell. Still there. right. Because he says right after that, he says, therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles

and they will listen. So that's that newness and that idea. And that's the tension really that you see. And in the first three chapters of the book of Ephesians, one of those great ideas is this concept of unity between all Jewish people

in Christ, but also all Gentile people in Christ. And so that becomes a big part of his theme as well. Dad, you mentioned that it's really a book about truth, and that's mentioned several times in the book, this concept of what ultimate truth is. Well, I was going to say, because it does say that in verse three of Ephesians, where it says, praise be to God, our Father of Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. and it goes on to say in verse 10 that these times were put into effect to reach their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. And then where's the verse that where he's at the right hand? Yeah, that's in verse 20. Yeah. Talking about the power of Christ, which he exerted in Christ when he was raised from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly rams far above all rule and authority,

power, and dominion, and every title that can be given. I mean, this is kingdom language. Christ has been exalted. So our point was, when we talk about stressing what Jesus has done, which is important, we're not making light of that. but I think what happened is when you read something like 1st Corinthians 2 and when Paul was making a point that the message of the cross was foolishness to those who were perishing that's in verse 18 of chapter 1 but he said I resolved to know nothing

while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified which seems to say oh you are supposed to just focus on that but you got to remember this is 1 Corinthians 2 but in 1st Corinthians 15, he makes an interesting statement when he says, but if Christ was not raised, if the dead are not raised, this is 15, 16, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile. And then there's an interesting statement here. You're still in your sense. So you even see this hinted at in Romans. I think we were talking on the last podcast, and I referred to this verse, and I couldn't find it, but in the last verse of Romans 4 in verse 25, says, speaking of Jesus, he was delivered over to death for our sins,

but what's this next phrase? And was raised to life for our justification. And here you have the death and the resurrection. So I think sometimes we try to separate that fact because it's impossible. to separate. Yes, Jesus came to die for our sins. He chose to do it. But him being raised up not only took care of our sins, but it allowed us to be able to live forever without those sins. It was a death to the mortal world that we live in, which is the problem. That's where you're going to get into all this. There's two kinds of atoms, which he's

He says in 1st Corinthians 15 also, the first Adam, what happened? He sinned and thus died because he was separated from the tree of life and mortality came about. And so we're all under that trap, that law of sin and death, which is Romans discusses that. And Jesus came, the second Adam, which it says the last Adam, to basically destroy that component of us being trapped. Yeah. And even his addressing of the people that he's writing to here in the book of Ephesians

in the first verse basically says what you just said, to the saints in Ephesus. And this is, by the way, it was probably a broader letter. It started in Ephesus but went around to other places. To the saints and the faithful in Christ Jesus. So you notice there's no accident that right off the bat, he talks about their positioning, which is in him. You don't become a saint because of something you do.

That's the idea of being set apart, being holy. That happens in Christ. But then he says the faithful or the believers, which is our, we do play a role in what happens to us because of what we believe and then how we act on those belief systems. So I like it right off the bat. he's giving you the balance, even in his description of this group of people in Ephesus. Just what you were talking about. I think it says 10 times in the first chapter, the phrase in him.

Yeah. Because what we do, and the reason we're kind of getting into the deep water here, there's so much theology that's come out of the book of Ephesians that seems to contradict some of the characteristics of God. Is that a good way to say it? It's a good way to say that. And so it's like when you read the book of Ephesians and you're thinking about yourself, you're going to come away with an interpretation that may not be adequate.

I mean, 10 times, because he's going back before the beginning of time, where this all got started, God's plan, God's predestination, God's foreordained knowledge, all those things are addressed. but 10 times in this first chapter, it's in him. Yeah. This is accomplished. Yeah. And remember, again, this is why we're doing the study this way, that where he's at and the setting and the context is very important to understand. I mean, we talked about the city of Ephesus, which at this time is the fourth largest city in the Roman Empire.

At about a quarter of a million people, which for this day and age would have been huge. I mean, we have cities now with millions of people in them, but this day and age just didn't have that. And so this was the Roman capital of Asia Minor. We know about the temple of Artemis that was there, one of the seven wonders of the world. And so we know that all this is going on. So the idea of separating out and understanding Jesus and kingdom is so crucial to understanding the concepts in the book. But so many people have approached it like it didn't exist in that kind of. context. And so that's when you've gotten some pretty wonky ideas about who God is and what the kingdom is.

Exactly. And look, I'm not the brightest bulb in the theological world, but we're, you know, as we go through Ephesians, we'll get into some pretty deep stuff. And there's just some things that I know that the verses, when I want to hear people speak on our theologians and look, because I've done a lot of research leading up to this, there's just some things I know. know it's not saying. Right. And somebody said, well, what exactly is it saying? I'm like, well, I'm not real sure, but I know what it's not saying.

Because to me, if you're violating God's character in whatever you're putting out there. But people have a difficult time with that, and I heard a great illustration on this. I forgot where I heard this, but it was pretty good. Because he made that statement of saying there's just some things you can't make Bible versus to say. It's a violation of God's character. And he gave illustration. It's like if you were standing beside a guy and someone sees a woman across the street and says, hey, look, there's your wife.

And you look over there and she's not your wife, you would say, that's not my wife. And the guy could say, well, how do you know? You don't know her. I know that's not, I don't know who that is, but I know that's not my wife. And I think that's not a bad way to think because you're looking at the Bible from cover to cover. So I think, you know, when you're hearing something from a theologian or a preacher and it's making you extremely uncomfortable, you know, that's when you need to Bible it and say, well, wait a minute here. because there's a lot of doctrines that come out of Ephesians that I truthfully just think is nonsense. Somebody might say, though, that the scriptures can make you uncomfortable because they're convicting,

and that's not, I don't think that's what you're talking about. I mean, there is an uncomfortability sometimes when we're confronted with the truth of God's word and the truth of who God is. That can make you uncomfortable. I think that a good, it's one of the limitations of what's called systematic theology. that we want to take the Bible and I love systematic theology. Well, explain to us what systematic theology is because I don't know what that is. It's looking at the Bible as kind of like there's systems in the Bible. So what does the Bible say about and then add in your particular topic, right?

So what does the Bible say about the doctrine of Christ or what does the Bible say about the doctrine of salvation? And so then you look at it blanketly as a, instead of looking at it more. expositorily where you're going through, like, what is the context of this actual passage? You're looking at it more from his perspective of a system. Categorized, and that's what I call categorizing. And it's helpful. It's helpful, but the problem is, as we know. It's also dangerous.

It can be dangerous. I mean, we grew up in a sect that became very sectarian, and it was primarily built around systems and interpreting the Bible through systems. our hermeneutic was the way we interpreted the Bible was command, example, necessary inference, and that was how everything was interpreted. And the problem with that, you just miss so much of what's here. And so you really don't want to have an allegiance to a system. You don't want to have an allegiance, in my opinion, to a denominational perspective or anything.

I think we let the word speak. One thing I do appreciate about our heritage is that it was a heavy emphasis on let the Bible speak where the Bible speaks and let's be silent where it's silent. And I think that's a helpful tool to say, what is the Bible, what's the, what's the point here? And I think what's helpful, what's been helpful for me, and particularly when the discussion of what we're going to get to in Hebrews, is what is the lens to which I interpret the Bible?

And for years, it was only atonement. That was my whole thing. I interpret everything through that lens. Now, the way I interpret the Bible, a lot of this is from going back and read the Old Testament prophets is through the lens of presence, God's presence being the primary purpose of the scriptures, and then reading it in that light. And I think what you're going to see in the book of Ephesians is there's a whole lot more in the book of Ephesians about the kingdom, the multi-ethnic kingdom that God is building and bringing that was prophesied

in Isaiah, that was prophesied in Ezeko, that was prophesied in Daniel, that was talked about at the very beginning of the scriptures that is being revealed as a mystery here in the book of Ephesians. And I think it helps as we move into the discussion to understand that. But I agree with Jason. I think so many times that we get, our allegiance is not to, hey, I have to protect my, you know, what I've been taught my whole life. And I've got to protect this more than anything.

And we've got to be willing to maybe challenge those assumptions. Well, we have redemption through his blood and forgiveness. given us of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom understanding. He made this first chapter of Ephesian. He, his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ to be put into effect when the times would have reached their fulfillment to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him, we also were chosen having to be in predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will in order that we who were the first hope in

Christ that came before this bunch might be for the praise of his glory and you you are also included in Christ when you heard the word of truth which I've mentioned that a little earlier about how many times the truth is used. The Word of Truth, the Gospel of Your Salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. He's the deposit guaranteeing their inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession

to the praise of his glory. And I would be amiss if I didn't just take the Bible from that's chapter 1, verse 10 or 12. I can turn one page. There's one body, one spirit, just as you recall of one hope, when you will call one Lord, name is Jesus, one baptism, one baptism. Where'd that come from? One God and Father of All, who's over all through all and in all.

I'll take those two texts right there and camp out on them all day long. Well, and you make a really good point, Dad. And what we're saying, this whole idea, this is a really good glimpse because we're studying one book, is when you approach these letters that Paul sent out, and especially the way we're approaching it, these are cities he went into. He was sharing, remember he had a system speaking of sisters. The group here in Ephesians is, he's more, he's more thoughtful. Yeah. Well, it's a great book. It's a great letter.

Yeah. So, but each one of those, he comes in and does a system. same thing. He goes to the synagogue. He finds some common ground because these people had a Jewish background. They become believers in Christ. And then that group begins to share in this city what Jesus has done. So remember. And he was going from daylight to dark. All the way. So it's an overarch. It was Jesus. It was kingdom. It was what we've been called to. And then each city had its own particular issues because of culture, because of other things that were going on. So when he sends the letters back to them, he addresses some specific things, but there's always an overarching of

who Jesus is and what the kingdom is about. And so that's a great way to approach our Bible study. And we're now 2,000 years later. We live in a different culture. We have different problems. It's, you know, not totally... Same arguments are used. And what do we do? We have the overarching of who Jesus is and what the Kingdom's about. We're a part of that. And then we have to deal with our issues specifically. And we try to take that overview of all of the letters and see who Jesus is. And Jason was right earlier, you can never malign the character of God when you come up with something that goes against who he is. You can't do that. You wind up in a bad place. And it's like stuff like God does not show favoritism. I mean, how many times is that in the Bible?

Almost every setting you saw. I mean, really, when you read the book of Ephesians, Because a lot of people believe the exact opposite of what I'm fixed to say. But when I read the book of Ephesians, like I read the book of Acts, I think, you know what? God, God is for everybody. Yeah. I mean, that just seems to come out in between the verses. Right, right. You know, it's like.

It's the same thing of Romans. I mean, Book of Romans, but Ephesians, think about this. I think this is very helpful before we even get into the book. in Ephesians 3, Paul says that he is unveiling a mystery. He says, I'm unveiling the mystery of the gospel. And then he defines what the mystery of the gospel is. So he's not saying that the mystery is something that's unknowable. In fact, he's saying there's a revelation that's happening right now through the power of the Holy Spirit,

obviously through Paul, writing this scripture down and through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the mystery of the gospel is being revealed. And what is the mystery that's being revealed? It's exactly what you just said, that God doesn't show favoritism. He says that the mystery, verse 6, is that the Gentiles, now think about if you're Jewish. You're like, wait, what? The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body,

and partakers of the promise of Christ through the gospel. And that's what's got the Jews fired up here. That's what's got, so think about though when we go and interpret it. They can be saved like we can, man. Well, it's human nature. We like our little groups. Just look at what's going on in America. And we're trying to put everybody in a small group and build walls around that.

And basically, God does the opposite. There's neither June or Greek, male or female. That's right. flavor-free. I mean. Which makes a whole lot more sense when you go back and read like an isolation. Isaiah, Isaiah 2, he gives this prophetic vision of this mountain. I've mentioned this on the podcast.

I don't know how many times, but I'm going to keep saying it because it's right here in Ephesians now. That it's the nations, which would be Jew and then everybody else, Gentile, all going uphill, the anti-gravitational flow uphill to worship the one true God. So you see, even in the Old Testament, you see the promise of, of a multi-ethnic kingdom. That's when Jesus, when he turned the tables over the temple, he said, you've turned my father's house that was meant to be a house of worship for the nations into a den of robbers.

So again, you're seeing this multi-ethnic kingdom that God is promising in the Old Testament. Jesus is turning over the tables in the temple in the New Testament because he says they've missed it. And then now with the finished work of Christ and the consumm-well, not the consummation, but the coming of the kingdom, the inauguration of the kingdom, you see now Paul explaining what that means in Ephesians, which what Phil had mentioned, that verse he said he could camp out in and I think it was in Ephesians 4, about one faith, one Lord, one baptism. It's oneness. It's one people under the banner of Christ.

You didn't come up with that on your own because you're just quoting what Jesus told, the woman at the well in John 4. The image you just described is exactly what he told her. You know, it's a tough matter when starting in about, uh, chapter three of Ephesians, it's called a mystery, a mystery, a mystery, a mystery, four mysteries and one little block about that long. Yeah, but like Zach said, and then he revealed. He's known to me by revelation, Paul's telling them, look, y'all had seen what I've seen,

you would get on your belly right now. But it's a tough sell. No, exactly right. And, and, and, mystery is something you,

you, what? I mean, first, God's grace has given me for you, that is

the mystery made known to me by revelation reading this, then you'll be able to understand

my insights until the mystery of Christ and men and other generations as has now

been revealed by the Spirit of God, holy apostles and prophets. We've got this information.

We've got it coming to you. It's the truth. The mystery is that through the gospel,

the Gentiles and members are together of one body. These people are having a hard time with loving their neighbor. They just. But think about that. Think about the man who wrote that. You don't think about it being mysterious. Well, the Pharisee, the Pharisee Saul, you're talking about a mystery.

He could never foresee any possibility of a Gentile becoming a believer in his God. That's right. There was no way that could ever happen. That's right. That's why he starts out by saying Paul and Apostle of Christ by the will of God. In other words, it wasn't by his will. If he doesn't get struck down on that road and has that encounter with Jesus, Saul never sees this mystery unveil.

And, you know, while you're there, for ages past, was kept hidden in God who created all things. That's what this mystery is, he said. They just couldn't buy love your neighbor. They just couldn't do it. No, they couldn't see any way possible. Go ahead, Zah. It's a great point because then you read the Old Testament, and there's so many verses about, all these nations coming in to worship the one true God and verses that would

say something like, I will call people who are not my people, my people. And it's like over and over. I mean, the whole Old Testament is just littered with this proclamation of this type of kingdom that Jesus really talks about a lot in the Gospels. And you think, man, how did they miss it? Well, because it was hidden in God until it wasn't. You know what I mean? It was hidden in him until it wasn't.

And so now we have the benefit of the scriptures and have in hindsight, kind of like a 2020 hindsight here that we can look back. And we can interpret all of that now in the lens of the revelation of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. So that's what's happening here. And I think it's extremely important for us to, again, remember that the core here is that Christ wants to dwell with people, in people. And that's what he says in Ephesians 3. He said that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. You know, that that's the point of all of this of what he's getting towards is that Christ is now going to live in people.

There's a new temple that's been established. And we're going to see this in Ephesians as well. There's all kind of temple language in here. Yep. you're the new temple, you, Jew and Gentile, multi-ethnic kingdom, you're the new temple. Christ is going to dwell in you. The Holy Spirit is going to live in you, and he's going to empower you. So that's the lens that we kind of go into the discussion with.

It's a tough sale. You need to write a book called Solved Mysteries. You remember that show? Unsolved mysteries, yeah. It's funny you mention that because I had not seen that show. It was back in the 80s and 90s. Some of you have no idea it was a show. And the Robert Stack, who was the guy that narrated, was like a famous older actor.

And the only reason I know this is because when we were convalescing down in New Orleans, for some reason, I guess it's because I couldn't figure out the TV how to get something I liked on there. We watched eight hours of unsolved mysteries, that old show. And some of them are so bizarre. But you know what that means? You walk away from that show? Confused. I was very confused.

Because they weren't solved. Because what you just quoted, look, he reiterates in his letter to the Colossians. You remember in chapter 1, verse 26, the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now declosed to the saints. Similar language to Ephesians. To them, God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, because we're talking about that everyone can be in. but the point was this next phrase,

which is, what is the solved mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. That's good. Which was also, yeah, that's a great point

because that's the language, I think in Mark, maybe it's a Mark 3, Mark 4, he talks about the secret of the kingdom has been given to you. And it's that Colossians 1, was that Colossians,

126, you quoted, 127? Yeah, what you just, both, 26 and 27. Yeah, so it's also linked to kingdom language when he says that the secret of the kingdom has been given to you. That's what he's talking about.

He's talking about Christ in you. So it's the same language. Because look, I've studied this and I'd have to have brain rest because it literally was making my head hurt. But because it took me through back to Romans. Yeah. And, you know, I had to start emailing my scholarly friend saying, okay, now in Romans here, when we're talking about this first Adam and this second, because Romans 5 seems to have a synopsis of the groups from Adam to Moses, which Romans 5 says that, and then Moses to Jesus, those who are under the law. And when you kind of wrap your head around that, it gives you. the context for what he's saying, which is kind of the mysteries being solved here.

Well, that's in Romans 5. But when you go to 1st Corinthians 15, and the reason I read that about that if Jesus hasn't been raised, you're still in your sins. Well, when he got to the end of 1st Corinthians 15, I just think this is fascinating. In 56, it says, the sting of death is sin. And the power of sin is the law. but thanks be to God, he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what's he talking about here in 1st Corinthians 15?

He's talking about the resurrection and the implications of him being exalted at the right hand of God. But you know what he does right before he makes that statement? Like Romans 5, he says in verse 45, 1st Corinthians 15, so it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. What is he talking about? Talking about Jesus.

Yeah. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural. And we have a hard time even translating that. You know, in Romans 8 it says that we were under the law of sin and death, but Jesus set us free through the spirit of life. Right. So all of a sudden you see these two. worlds, realms.

You see those born from Adam, which we all were. Yep. Where he set a certain circumstance in motion, which is sin and death. Because of his sin, he was separated from God. And his mortal being died. That's why when you read Romans 5, it's like death, I mean, sin reign through death. You say, well, is everybody dying since then? Yeah.

We need a new world here. Yeah, that's right. And so that's why when Jesus came, he established a new world because the two things that are against us in the nature, the laws of nature in our flesh and mortality, is sin and death. Even if you could get your sins removed, whether you would still die. Right. And so it makes sense then when he gets to first grade. I said all that to say this.

when he gets to 1st Corinthians 15, 51, he says, listen, I tell you a mystery. Oh, we have another mystery. Different from the one we discussed while ago. We will not all sleep or die, but we will all be changed in a flash in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable. We will be changed. The perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal, which is the problem of living on the earth after the separation that occurred.

So I really think that's interesting, but it is deep because a lot of people read Ephesians, and they'll say, oh, since we came from Adam, we inherit his sin. No, it doesn't say that, but people somehow made that conclusion, which I don't think is true whatsoever, because when you read in Romans 8,

where it says there's no condemnation in Jesus, it said God made him in the flesh. Right. Well, your flesh is not sinful. Right. Or Jesus would have been sinful. That's right. He became a man.

Yeah, which is the anchor of Gnosticism, is the flesh is evil and the spirit is good. And I think that what that leads to is a disembodied walk on this earth. Like we're disembodied. Yeah, that won't work. That won't work. Yeah, it won't work. Just because we're going to sin, just because we're going to sin doesn't mean because you have a body you were born into sin.

Right. Well, I mean, I was just going to say, you know, it's introduction. There's a lot here. I think the problem, too, we start when we start with the fact that man is sinful, you actually are starting at the wrong place. That's where you're starting. And I know that's controversial. I know there's people going to hear that. I don't think it's controversial at all, Zach.

Because, look, it's controversial. Well, you can't have, like we said, you can't violate a characteristic of God. You can't in one breath say that we're all made in the image of God. You know, everything that has been created, including us, is made by God. You can't say, oh, well, he created me evil. Yeah. Well, because now you have another principle, which God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. there's no sin in him.

He's perfect, flawless. You can't have it both ways. You can't say you're created. That is where you've got to start, though. You have to start with what you just said. You got to start with Genesis 1-26. Yep. When you're talking about anthropology, when you're talking about who we are as humans,

you start with man is made in the image of God. You are made in the image of God. I am made in the image of God. And that's not something that was annihilated by the fall, by the way. Because in Genesis chapter 9, it says that it's, I mean, this is post all that had happened, post-murder, post a lot of trauma and pain and sin. And it says in Genesis chapter 9, it still acknowledges that man is made in the image of God. And so that's where we start.

We start with man's made the image of God. Then you get to the fall. Then you get to and man fell. Then you get to redemption and then restoration and then glorification. I think that's the proper framework to interpret kind of the biblical narrative in the arc, and particularly our own story, is we start with where we, because that, because that glorification, you know what that ultimately is. It's a return back to the Amago Day, unencumbered by sin.

I mean, that's where we're going back to. It's a new creation. So the moral of the story is if we're going to study Ephesians, but if you want to come join us, you're going to have to read the book of Ephesians, throw in Acts, Romans, and Colossians. and then bring some kind of dictionary so that every time Zach uses a big word, you can instantly define it. And then we'll have a good study. We're going to leave with crickets and talk about anthropology when we come back on the next Unashamed podcast.

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