Ephesians 3:1-3 For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles– (2) assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, (3) how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.

Paul is in prison during this time when he is writing the letter to Ephesus, but there is more to the meaning in this verse than just informing the people that he is imprisoned on their behalf. Being a Jew, he would naturally want to bring the Gospel to his own people, but God called him to preach the message to the Gentiles. (The stewardship of God’s grace) Therefore, he is “imprisoned” by God for the gentiles, as if to be enslaved to the Gentiles to preach to them rather than to his own people. He must give up a lot of ethnic, cultural, and personal values in order to deliver his message to the gentiles and Paul is telling them that the reason he can do this is because he serves a gracious God.

Last January Lori and I went to a mission conference. One of the keynote speakers was talking about one of the ways we show our faith in and love for Christ is by the way we love other people. “Loving people can be very messy,” he shared, “and the hardest to love are the messy ones. When you love the messy ones, you are probably going to get a little of their mess on you.”

Paul had a love for the gentiles like no other and it showed in the way he served the Lord. In the book of Romans he states that he is an apostle to the Gentiles. God called him out to herald the Good News of the Gospel to the Gentiles, even to the point of jealousy from his fellow Jews in order that some of them may be saved.

God has a call on each one of our lives to share the Gospel to everyone. Often I find myself avoiding the ones that are a little messy because it can be awkward and challenging, but Jesus tells us that we are to go to all men and preach the Gospel. When I am downtown or walking along a busy city street, I will often avoid the homeless addict holding a sign, or the old vet asking for money at the bottle return, and the guy that wreaks of some nasty odor from weeks of not bathing. Loving all people and being “imprisoned” to share the Gospel can be hard work, but it reaps not only benefits for you and me, it can often reap eternal benefits for the one we are willing to get a little messy with.

May you and I be willing to get messy for Jesus today.
Blessings,
Keith