Experts And Authorities

Wouldn’t it be great if every Christian could be as articulate and knowledgeable about the truths of the Christian gospel as their well-educated pastor? We rightly honor the men and women who have gone to seminary, engaged with other bright and Jesus-loving professors, who understand much more of the depth and impact of what God has done in Jesus. Like most things, the more you know about the gospel of Jesus, the better it gets.

“… and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 3:9-10 ESV)

So, the job of telling the good and important information about Jesus turns out to be an intense duty. The gospel about Jesus is part of God’s previously-unknown-information (“mystery”) plan that has been around forever. Then the apostle Paul tells us that the obvious wisdom of God would be proclaimed, by way of the human church, to ‘heavenly realms and authorities.’

As I’ve shared before, this is the dignity, privilege, and worth of God’s image: humanity. That is all of us. Believers in Christ, having been redeemed – being put back where we belong in a right relationship with God – we then tell heaven what God has done and how it is wise.

Contrary to some strains within Christianity, we are not worms; though we were made of the same stuff. As God’s “image,” we were made to be God’s ruling representatives on this world – God’s “icons.”

That’s a tall order and a big responsibility – and we seem so unprepared to take it on. Especially in comparison with Jesus who we are supposed to be representing. Still, while we may be weak, slow, stupid, and broken – we know God’s love, mercy, reconciliation, and wisdom. That’s our advantage.

Do you know the difference between an “expert” and an “authority?” And expert knows and understands the theoretical and intellectual information. They have read, studied, and perhaps even observed. They know a lot about a subject.

An “authority” is different. An authority may not know as much as the expert, but they have practiced the subject. They have lived it. They can speak from the authority of their personal experience.

When I was born, there was one expert and one authority in the room. The expert was the Obstetrician. He was a medical doctor who knew a lot about giving birth. Also in the room was an authority, my mother. She was actually experiencing childbirth. Her obstetrician was an expert, but he would never be an authority!

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And that is our story, as well, when it comes to the gospel. Sometimes we get intimidated because we don’t know as much about the gospel as our seminary-educated pastor. But. We have actually experienced the grace of God in our lives because of what Jesus has done. We know the gospel! Maybe not as ‘experts,’ but certainly as ‘authorities’ and we can tell what we know.

What Mystery?

There was a time when the mystery novel was a Very Big Thing. As a type of literature, it became very popular in the mid-1800's and entered a golden age in the mid-20th century. Books, magazines, movies, radio, and theater all have been used to tell a good story. The essence of a mystery is: something happened (usually bad), none of the Good Guys knows what happened, Good Guys must discover and then reveal what happened. Much of the fun of a good mystery is how the facts are discovered. 

"Mystery" is a Biblical word, as well. It literally means, "something not yet revealed." There are a few mysteries that the Bible speaks of. Here's one ...

“… making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Eph. 1:9-10 ESV)

If you think about it, it is rather special that God would even bother to tell us things. That is not the case in other religions. In the deism that was popular in the mid-1700’s, one of the tenets of that notion was that God may have created things, but he is like a watchmaker. To the deist, God made the watch (the created world), would it up, and has been letting it run. Apparently, to the deist, God has other things to do. 
Islam has a similar notion, I’m told. For the Muslim, there is no interactive relationship with Allah. Allah only speaks to the prophets; for the rest, he demands submission – the literal meaning of the word, “islam.” In that way, Allah is not open to understanding or relationship.

For the Jews and Christians, God is far more engaging. He speaks to humanity all the time. And not merely talking to, but talking with. Conversations with God occur routinely.

Technically, when God tells us new information this is called “revelation.” That is, God reveals truth, facts, and insights to humanity. And God has told us many things. The Bible itself – one of the ways God speaks – tells us that God has told everybody enough to understand some basic things: God exists, he is a person, there are right and wrong, God is not only good but a good judge of that right and wrong, and so forth. Everybody has the information to recognize those general facts. God has ordered creation as well as even the structure of human reasoning to make those general truths obvious.

From time to time, God speaks to humans in specific instances. The person might be a prophet or not. God will give specific information. Technically, that is called ‘special revelation.’ Special revelation roughly means: “Information that God gives people which are not generally available to the rest of humanity.” Here are some examples: the Old Testament was God’s word to the specific nation of Israel. Christians strongly believe that God then used Jesus (the anointed, "messiah") to break the division between Jew and non-Jew (“gentile”) so the New Testament is God’s additional word to all of humanity. God has also spoken to individuals through dreams, visions, and other people. The absolute best, highest quality, and most significant communication that God made to humanity is the person of Jesus himself. 

And now to our text: There have been times when God has revealed something very clearly that just wasn’t seen or recognized before. That fact was – technically – a “mystery:” something previously unknown or unrecognized which God made clear.

It seems to me that all those thoughts and ideas are the philosophical-theological context that Paul has when he talks about “making known the mystery ….” There was a mystery – we didn’t know quite what God was up to. But now, we have a much clearer idea because of Jesus.

Paul writes of God’s special revelation of his intent. Not only is God’s goal a good one, but he is powerful enough to make it happen. What is that goal? It is the “Summing up” in Christ. This theme of Christ uniting or pulling all things together has been with theologians for a very long time. It was the predominate theme (he called it, ‘recapitulation’) of Ireneas’ theology. More recently, that heaven and earth will be re-united as per Randy Alcorn.

So, we didn't know what God was up to. More accurately, we didn't have a full picture. But Jesus' coming has unveiled the mystery. And, what is surprising ("Ta-da!") is that what God has been up to centers on Jesus himself. Jesus is Messiah and he will bring all things together.

So, what does that mean for us? Well, to be blunt, Jesus Wins. Now the question is, do you want to be on the winning side?