Sermon: Stewards of the Mysteries of God

#1654
Mark Schindler
Given 28-May-22; 68 minutes

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On this 42^nd day and 6^th Sabbath in the 50 day/7-Sabbath count to Pentecost we will be taking a closer look at I Corinthians 5 during this sermon and the important lesson we should glean from God’s Word through the apostle Paul to all God’s elect, who have been set apart and placed into the Body of Christ.

This particular chapter contains quite a bit of godly wisdom that we need to consider as God’s elect who live in this world without being part of it during these days of ever-increasing chaos, confusion, and what God considers abominable behavior. In my opinion there are vital lessons that God is giving to His elect, as we seek God’s direction to “number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom,” as Moses requested in his prayer of praise to God as recorded in Psalm 90:12.

Before turning to I Corinthians 5, which is actually going to take up much less of the time and focus of this sermon than I had initially intended, we are going to begin today’s sermon with Psalm 90.

Here, Moses clearly lays out the perspective of time from God’s point of view and our seemingly miniscule part in it, a perspective that should have been on our minds as we have been counting the days and the 7 Sabbaths to Pentecost while considering our own lives within the body of Christ.

Psalm 90:1-12 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. You turn man to destruction, and say, "Return, O children of men."

For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it is past, and like a watch in the night. You carry them away like a flood; they are like a sleep. In the morning they are like grass which grows up: In the morning it flourishes and grows up; in the evening it is cut down and withers. For we have been consumed by Your anger, and by Your wrath we are terrified. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.

For all our days have passed away in Your wrath; we finish our years like a sigh. The days of our lives are seventy years; and if by reason of strength they are eighty years, yet their boast is only labor and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? For as the fear of You, so is Your wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

For all of us, as we have been considering each day and week go by in this count to Pentecost, these very things should have been on our minds, and it may be a bit frustrating to us! I know for myself, each year that goes by and the older I get, the brevity of this life becomes more of a harsh reality that can become somewhat distressing. So much has been left undone and it becomes more apparent the days behind are excessively greater than the days ahead in this life in the flesh.

My intention is not to get us depressed by this, brethren, but I do want us to be very aware of the limited time we have been given and how God expects us to deal with it.

As I began preparing this sermon, while thinking of the days of life as I counted toward Pentecost and my own seemingly futile efforts, I could not help but think of a silly Billy Crystal comedy from the 1990s, “City Slickers” and Billy Crystal’s memorable, “It’s all downhill from here” speech to his son’s 5^th grade class, as his contribution to the class’s “Have your Father tell us what he does” day.

In the movie Billy Crystal’s character had just turned 40 and was going through a mid-life crisis of sorts, thinking his life had peaked; he was in a rut, and it was all downhill from there. The problem was that he brought his dimmed personal worldview of life with him to his, “What does your father do?” speech, and laid it on a group of wide-eyed, joy-of-life 5^th graders, whose joy of youth was about to be challenged!

As he began explaining what he did for a living, and as he heard the words leave his mouth, his silent introspection regarding the brevity of the life of an underachiever overwhelmed him, and turned his life career speech into a soliloquy on a par with Macbeth’s, “Life is but a Walking Shadow,” speech! (Please keep in mind this is a tongue-in-cheek comedy and, of course this should be considered from the absurd point on which comedies are built.)

While his son grimaced, Billy Crystal’s character gave a life lesson to this wide-eyed group of innocents, as he said:

“Value this time of your life, because this is the time when you still have choices. It goes by so fast.”

“When you’re a teenager, you think you can do anything, and you do!”

“Your twenties are a blur!”

“In your thirties, you raise a family, make a little money, and think to yourself, ‘What happened to my twenties?’”

“In your forties you get a pot belly; you grow another chin; music starts to get too loud; one of your old girl friends from high school becomes a grandmother.”

“In your fifties you have a minor surgery; you’ll call it a procedure, but it’s a surgery.”

“In your sixties you have a major surgery; the music is still loud but it doesn't matter because you can't hear it anyway.”

“In your seventies, you and the wife retire to Fort Lauderdale; you start eating dinner at two, while lunch was around ten in the morning, and breakfast the night before. And you spend most of your time wandering around malls looking for the ultimate in soft yogurt, and muttering, "How come the kids don't call?"

Then following some even more depressing comments on being in one’s eighties, he says, “Any questions?” Now looking out on the formerly bright-eyed 5^th graders, they were now a group of slack jawed pre-teens who themselves had become overwhelmed by this father’s hopelessly limited description of life!

Brethren, I shared this silly movie vignette with you because it was a funny piece. But more importantly, how many of us down deep find ourselves looking at our Psalm-90 lives this way and become slack jawed and a bit distressed?

So we need to take a little closer look at verse 1 of Psalm 90, because God makes sure the psalm begins with an incredibly encouraging note, completely in line with God’s eternal view of His relationship with man.

Psalm 90:1 Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.

For the purposes of this sermon today and considering our 50 day/7-Sabbath count to Pentecost, I would like to read this verse again from a couple of alternate translations that should add something God wants us to see before He has us look at the other perspective of life that may be a bit distressing from our point of view.

First from “The Bible in Basic English” translation:

Psalm 90:1 (BBE) Lord, you have been our resting-place in all generations.

Now from the Amplified Bible that adds another interesting piece to the picture right at the beginning of this perspective on time and life from God:

Psalm 90:1 (Amplified) Lord, You have been our dwelling place [our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability] in all generations.

Please keep a marker there in Psalm 90 because we will be coming back to it in a few minutes.

Now, I want us to see six sets of verses that we need to tie into this. These are six very, very familiar verses but vital to our perspective. Remember, we are trying to make a connection between the count to Pentecost and numbering our days, as juggled between the awesome and almost unfathomable perspective of the Eternal God and our own mundane perspective difficult lives, which are, by comparison, a mere wisp of smoke.

This reality can become distressing and frustrating if we do not firmly grasp the other incredible truths that God inspired Moses to trumpet at the beginning of this psalm.

Please turn with me first to Genesis 1:

Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2:1-4 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.

Mark 2:27-28 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Ezekiel 20:10-12 "Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them.' Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.”

Ezekiel 20:19-20 ‘I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.'

Exodus 31:12-18 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.

Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'" And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.

Leviticus 23:10-11 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted on your behalf; on the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it.’

Leviticus 23:14-16 ‘You shall eat neither bread nor parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have brought an offering to your God; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 'And you shall count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath; then you shall offer a new grain offering to the LORD.’

I think one of the important lessons God wants us to learn in counting 50 days and 7 Sabbaths from within the Days of Unleavened Bread to Pentecost is that our lives in this world are limited and full of work that may seem mundane and frustrating.

However, if we recognize that these days are anchored in the rest, refuge, stability, and sanctification provided by Jesus Christ, we are going to learn to live as He lives—to work and think as He works and thinks throughout the days of our lives. No matter how brief and unfulfilled they may seem to us, if we stay bound to the First of the firstfruits, God’s accomplished work in us will be filled to the full!

Please turn with me back again to Psalm 90 and, while considering verse 1, “Lord, you have been our resting place in all generations [our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability] in all generations,” tie it into Exodus 31:13, “Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord, who sanctifies You.” We will pick it up again in verse 12, but now through the rest of the chapter:

Psalm 90:12-17 So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Return, O LORD! How long? And have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! Make us glad according to the days in which You have afflicted us, the years in which we have seen evil. Let Your work appear to Your servants, and Your glory to their children. And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands for us; yes, establish the work of our hands.

Again, I would like to read those verses first from the Amplified Bible and then from the Message Bible in Contemporary English that may add a bit:

Psalm 90:12-17 (Amplified) So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom. Turn, O Lord [from Your fierce anger]! How long? Revoke Your sentence and be compassionate and at ease toward Your servants. O satisfy us with Your mercy and loving kindness in the morning [now, before we are older] that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad in proportion to the days in which You have afflicted us and to the years in which we have suffered evil. Let Your work [the signs of Your power] be revealed to Your servants, and Your [glorious] majesty to their children. And let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us; confirm and establish the work of our hands; yes, the work of our hands, confirm and establish it.

Psalm 90:12-17 (MSG) Oh! Teach us to live well! Teach us to live wisely and well! Come back, God! How long do we have to wait? And treat your servants with kindness. Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we'll skip and dance all the day long. Make up for the bad times with some good times; we've seen enough evil to last a lifetime. Let Your servants see what You're best at—the ways You rule and bless Your children. And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work that we do!

Although the Message Bible beautifully translates verse 17, “Let the loveliness of the Lord our God, rest on us, confirming the work we do. Oh, yes. Affirm the work we do.” it is important that we look at the Hebrew word that is translated, “confirming and affirm” here, although it is translated “establish” in the NKJV and the Amplified. This is the Hebrew word, Strong’s 3559, “koon” (kun), and it means to make firm, to establish, to prepare. The primary action of this verb is to cause to stand in an upright position, and thus the word also means fixed or steadfast. It signifies the action of setting in place or erecting an object.

What Moses is asking of God here is that our days, though they may seem to us brief, mundane, trying, perplexing, and hard, are in reality reflections of His work to make each of His elect wise in the beauty of His ways. All the days of our lives should be reflecting the beauty of godly work and wisdom; fixed and erect for all to around us to see. And let the beauty and delightfulness and favor of the Lord our God be upon us.

Brethren, within our count to Pentecost, God is giving us another analogical opportunity to continue to examine ourselves against the standard of Jesus Christ and how well we are truly learning to live as He lives. God is reminding us exactly how we should be counting our days while continuously anchored to Jesus Christ, our refuge, our sanctuary, our stability in all generations. It is only He who will keep us focused and growing in godly work and wisdom.

Now, after considering what has been said to this point and the privilege God has given each of us to reflect on our own walk through this life during our very personal count to the Feast of Firstfruits, we will be turning to I Corinthians 5. I hope, by the end of this sermon, we will have a better appreciation for just what a precious gift God has given those He has placed within the Body of Christ and regardless of the days we have. Our Great God will make us wise in the beauty of His way of life so that the beauty of His mind and His work of wisdom is being built as an upright lighthouse witness in us. However, this can only happen when anchored to refuge and sanctuary of our thoughtful relationship with Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 5:1-13 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles, that a man has his father's wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.

For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, not even to eat with such a person. For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore "put away from yourselves the evil person."

We read this entire chapter because I believe this succinctly summarizes the circumstances of our lives that Jesus Christ specifically requested for us in His prayer to the Father, recorded in John 17.

We all too often look only at I Corinthians 5 as Paul’s admonishment to the yet carnally minded Corinthians for apathetically allowing sin, not even condoned among the Gentiles, to continue unabashedly among those within that group within the Body of Christ. But there is so much more here regarding respecting the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ and carefully using godly wisdom and love in judging with outgoing concern for the unleavened Body of Christ in general, and the members in particular. Additionally, there is also very clear direction on how we are to treat those outside the body and the world in which we live.

Even though John 17 has been referred to several times during these days as we move on from Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread through the count to Pentecost, we must believe the reality of Christ’s prayer in our lives, as one of the primary subjects God addresses through the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 5!

So once again, as we are on our journey through these first two of the three festival seasons, please turn with me again to John 17:

John 17:9-23 "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.

Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled.

But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

Now let us add a few more scriptures into this before we go back to I Corinthians. I hope these will add another piece into this message as we consider something Paul notes in referring to himself, although I hope by the end of this sermon you will see this title and work applies to each and every one of us as well.

Romans 11:1-8 I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"?

But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear, to this very day."

Romans 11:20-25 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.

Please keep that word “mystery” in your minds as we continue in this sermon.

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! "For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?" "Or who has first given to Him and it shall be repaid to him?" For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

Ephesians 2:1-13 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

Ephesians 3:1-3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles, if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already.

Ephesians 3:8-11 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, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 5:1-5 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.

Ephesians 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Ephesians 5:15-17 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Colossians 1:12-14 Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:19-23 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight, if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.

Colossians 1:25-27 Of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

I Corinthians 3:16-23 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, "He catches the wise in their own craftiness"; and again, "The LORD knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile." Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours: whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come, all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

I Corinthians 4:1-2 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

We have gone through these scriptures because I wanted to reinforce something vitally important: Our lives are not a brief, mundane wisp of smoke numbered by just days. Rather, we are on an incredible life’s journey to the Kingdom of God, incrementally measured in days spent within the sanctifying work of Jesus Christ. And, through Him we, as the apostle Paul, have become stewards of the mysteries of God, while, at this time, the world in which we live is totally in confusion and darkness.

The word that we see translated as “mystery,” here and especially in Romans 11:25 and I Corinthians 4:1, is the Greek word mustērion (moos-tay'-ree-on), #3466 in Strong’s Concordance.

It is from a Greek word study; it variously means something hidden or not fully manifest, while in another place, Ephesians 5:32, the apostle Paul uses it in speaking specifically of the “mystery” of the relationship of Christ and His church, which, God willing, is going to be the subject we will look at in more detail next week on Pentecost.

But today I would like us to consider it as Paul uses it here in Romans 11:25 and I Corinthians 4:1, in the general sense of the revelation to the weak of this world through Jesus Christ and the gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Regarding the word mystery, one of the word studies I reviewed put it this way:

Some sacred thing, hidden or secret, which is naturally unknown to human reason, and is only known by the revelation of God. (Romans 11:25; I Corinthians 4:1; I Corinthians 14:2; I Corinthians 15:51; Colossians 2:2; I Timothy 3:16; see also I Corinthians 2:7)

Brethren, the apostle Paul identifies himself in I Corinthians 4:1 as a steward of the mysteries of God. By extension all the elect of God and firstfruits with Jesus Christ are also the stewards of the mysteries of God! Through our sanctifying relationship with Jesus Christ, we too are being built up to stand as living witnesses of the mysteries of God that have been revealed. We, too, are stewards of the mystery of the Kingdom of God and the good news delivered by Jesus Christ.

At this point I am going to cite a short section from the opening remarks from a sermon Richard Ritenbaugh gave at the Feast of Tabernacles in 1997 entitled “Stewardship.” While listening to this, please consider I Corinthians 1 and God’s calling of you and me, as the foolish and weak of the world that, “No flesh should glory in His presence. But in Him we are in Christ Jesus, 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,” as Paul wrote in I Corinthians 1:29-31.

Now regarding stewards, Richard said:

The logical place to start is to ask, "What is a steward?" The word, steward, has an interesting etymology. It literally means, "sty-ward," the manager of the pigsty. Pretty high quality, huh? In the original Anglo-Saxon, it is a pig keeper. Later, it was applied to the person who managed the activities in a nobleman's hall. He was the ward, or manager of that place where the king or a nobleman would welcome guests, hear requests, make judgments, hold feasts, and other sorts of things. He was in charge of making sure that there was plenty of food for everybody, and that the guests were introduced and dismissed at the proper times, and so forth.

But over time, a steward's responsibilities expanded to include the management of the entire estate of the nobleman, or other rich men. If he had a business, then a steward would be the chief manager of that business for him. He would supervise servants or employees. Depending on the sort of business that it happened to be, he would collect rents, or payments; he would keep the books; he would order provisions and supplies making sure that the storeroom was kept well stocked. And, he did many other things that the boss either could not do, or did not need to be bothered with.

The word manager has replaced this term. We do not use steward very much anymore. We have even dropped the term for the stewards and stewardesses on passenger planes; they are now flight attendants. So really, it is a word that just about only has its theological meanings left to it in our everyday life, such as in theParable of the Unjust Steward.

Stewardship, then, is the conducting, supervising, or managing of something. And it usually means, "The careful and responsible management of something that has been entrusted into your care." We use it like, "The nation is responsible for the stewardship of its natural resources." “Or, you have been given a sum of money in trust (a trustee); you would be a steward of that money. For example, in terms of money, the Church of the Great God expects our accountant, who handles our investments we have for a "rainy day," to be a responsible steward of that money held in trust for us.

Richard mentioned Luke 16 and the parable of the unjust steward. And also, in his Bible study on “The Parable of the Unjust Steward,” Martin Collins writes in his comments:

Remember, Jesus addresses this parable to His disciples, so He is giving them advice. "The sons of this world" or time (the unconverted, who have their minds set on the things of this life) are wiser by nature than "the sons of light" (the converted). Paul concedes that God calls few who are wise by nature because their wisdom is foolishness to God. Such "wise" people of this world are too proud to surrender to their Creator, so God calls those who are not as shrewd, who sometimes lack forethought, but are teachable.

Jesus Himself interprets the parable for us. We ought to use spiritual wisdom just as shrewdly as the steward used his secular wisdom. He tells us we should “be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

In conjunction with what Martin wrote, here is another dimension to Christ’s instructions. Albert Barnes writes in his commentary on Luke 16:1 concerning the word steward an interesting take-away for us from Christ’s words:

A steward: One who has charge of the affairs of a family or household; whose duty it is to provide for the family; to purchase provisions, etc. This is, of course, an office of trust and confidence. It affords great opportunity for dishonesty, waste, and for embezzling property. The master’s eye cannot always be on the steward, and he may, therefore, squander the property, or hoard it up for his own use. It was an office commonly conferred on a slave as a reward for fidelity, and of course, was given to him that in long service, and had shown himself most trustworthy. By the “rich man,” here, is doubtless represented God. By the “steward,” those who are his professed followers, particularly the “publicans” who were with the Savior, and whose chief danger arose from the temptations to the improper use of the money entrusted to them.

Brethren, just as the apostle Paul, we are slaves to Christ Jesus, and have been entrusted with something much more precious than the mammon of this world. We, with Paul and all who have been called by the Father, have been entrusted as stewards of the mysteries of God, revealed through His Holy Spirit, within a world that has only the vaguest idea regarding the awesome plan and purpose of God.

Every day I answer letters that come into the church from all over the world. Perhaps, it would amaze you to see just how much the Church of the Great God, a tiny group among the churches of God, is preaching the gospel to the whole world through our various material and websites. We are just one of many faithful churches of God that are preaching the true gospel of the Kingdom of God this way.

But the point is that even though we are reaching around the world with the true gospel of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus Christ preached, most all of these seemingly sincere people who express a desire to know that true gospel are unable to grasp what is basic to the elect of God!

However, that in no way should give us a sense of self-righteousness, but a stronger sense of duty and responsibility before God as faithful stewards of the mysteries revealed to us so we can be ready to serve them when God calls them according to His purpose.

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

I think all too often we consider the first part of this verse more than the latter. But we are stewards of the mysteries of God so that we may do all the words of the law, but only if our days are carefully interwoven with Jesus Christ with all faithfulness under His work of sanctification.

I Corinthians 1:4-18 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you.

Now I say this, that each of you says, "I am of Paul," or "I am of Apollos," or "I am of Cephas," or "I am of Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other.)

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

I Corinthians 2:3-11 I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except by the Spirit of God.

Brethren, as we count the days to Pentecost do we understand how closely they must be connected to the seven Sabbaths that sanctify? As we also count the days of life in a world of chaos and confusion, we must be faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, given by Him to us so that we can stand fixed and upright, as His workmanship. This means living by every Word of God understanding the greatest of all mysteries, God’s sovereign and complete rulership and authority over His creation regardless what governments of men are in power. This means living apolitical in a politically divided world, because God has entrusted us to be faithful and wise stewards of the mystery of the gospel of the Kingdom of God, which we are going to have to get into at length in a future sermon.

As I said, I was originally going to get into I Corinthians 5 but suffice it to say, as you read this chapter in I Corinthians, please note that most all of the chapter has to do with the vital importance of the sanctification of the body of Christ through personal adherence in humility to the high standards of learning and living the letter and the spirit of the law in respect and love for Christ and for one another. It is a chapter that is a practical example of how a steward of the mysteries of God, with the humble mind of a trustworthy servant, will faithfully and fearfully apply those things God has revealed to His elect in order that we may do all the words of His law under the judgment of Jesus Christ.

It is a road map for the faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, who are now striving to live unleavened lives within the circumstances God has provided at this time within and without the Body of Christ.

It is how the apostle Paul himself handled the days of his own life, under the judgment and direction of Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 5 is more about not allowing the leavening of pride in our unmerited position within the body of Christ turn us away from our duties within and without the body. It is about our need to make proper decisions as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God that have been revealed to us to do our job as one unified body, built by God to stand erect as a living witness to God’s glory under Jesus Christ.

As we have seen, God has given us in this count to the Feast of Firstfruits another vital key to counting our days and making them count through the sanctifying work of Jesus Christ! We have no need to be frustrated, distressed, and overwhelmed by a perspective on life apart from God, as long as we make sure our days are firmly interwoven with the sanctifying work of Jesus Christ.

I would like to finish up this sermon today going back to Psalms again. But this time we will be reading Psalm 91, which is the other Psalm that is very possibly written by Moses. It not only answers Psalm 90, but it defines the way for a successful life in our count to the Feast of Firstfruits.

We will pick it up starting with Psalm 90:

Psalm 90:16-17 (GNT) Let us, your servants, see your mighty deeds; let our descendants see your glorious might. Lord our God, may your blessings be with us. Give us success in all we do!

Psalm 91:1-9 (GNT) Whoever goes to the LORD for safety, whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty, can say to him, "You are my defender and protector. You are my God; in you I trust." He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers and from all deadly diseases. He will cover you with his wings; you will be safe in his care; his faithfulness will protect and defend you.

You need not fear any dangers at night or sudden attacks during the day or the plagues that strike in the dark or the evils that kill in daylight. A thousand may fall dead beside you, ten thousand all around you, but you will not be harmed. You will look and see how the wicked are punished. You have made the LORD your defender, the Most High your protector.

Psalm 91:14-16 (GNT) God says, "I will save those who love me and will protect those who acknowledge me as LORD. When they call to me, I will answer them; when they are in trouble, I will be with them. I will rescue them and honor them. I will reward them with long life; I will save them."

Brethren, our lives are interwoven with Jesus Christ, and our lives are much more than some brief exercise in futility. They are a very purposeful length of days God has graciously given to be lived as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God in preparation to teach and to rule in the Kingdom of God, which is yet one of the greatest of mysteries yet to be revealed to most of mankind.

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