The Unsearchable Riches of Christ

Ephesians 3:8 (NKJV) To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,

Revealing the Unsearchable Riches (v8) – Here is a wonderful summary of what it means to preach the gospel.  It is for a finite and fallible man to imperfectly declare and describe that which is unsearchable and incomprehensible to other finite and fallible people.  But when God blesses it, we hear Christ (Rom 10:14-15) which is why we come to this service of worship by faith expecting to hear Christ by His Holy Spirit through His Word proclaimed.

It also describes the breadth of the gospel.  The riches are not just about what Christ has given us; the riches are Christ, “…who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD”” (1 Cor 1:30-31).

Christ is My Wisdom – Jesus, by His Spirit, teaches me about God, about myself, about my sinfulness, about my need for redemption, about what it means to die to self, about what it means to live in the new Humanity, and on and on.

Christ is My Righteousness – Righteousness is less of a thing than it is a Person and a relationship.  In Christ, I have righteousness – I am righteous, for His name is “the LORD, my righteousness.”

Christ is My Sanctification – In Christ I stand faultless and blameless before God; it’s already done.  And then, in Him, He works into me by His Spirit that sanctification which then I work out in my life, led by Him all the way along.

Christ is My Redemption – Among other things, this means that I will be raised from the dead and all suffering, all shortcomings, all tears, all the imperfections that are me – will be gone.  There will be nothing lacking in body, mind or spirit.  Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10) – Whoot!  Whoot!

Again, summarizing the gospel, John wrote, “And from His fullness we have all received, grace upon grace” (John 1:16, ESV).  We are thimbles placed under a Niagara Falls of riches – but no worries – we have an eternity to explore and grow into the fullness.