Ephesians 3:1-15 -
1For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--
2Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you, that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation; as I have already written briefly. In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to men in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God's holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power. Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was to me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence. I ask you, therefore, not to be discouraged because of my sufferings for you, which are your glory.
...14For this reason I kneel before the father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Did you see Paul's ADD moment? The rabbit trail? Paul opens chapter 3 to pray for the Ephesians but then "gets distracted." You don't know how many times I wander off and talk about stuff that doesn't have anything to do with my "planned" lesson. But maybe it's stuff that the Holy Spirit actually lays on my heart right then and there because it is what my students need to hear before hearing the rest of my "planned" lesson.
The Ephesians needed to hear Paul's "rabbit trail" right then and there to prevent alot of future confusion and discouragement. Paul calls himself "the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles." Paul is actually in prison when he is writing this letter to the Ephesians and he basically says "I'm in jail for Jesus because of you Gentiles." If you look at Acts 22:21-22 then you actually realize that he is in prison because of the Gentiles. He is sharing with the Jews in Jerusalem about his Damascus road experience and says "Then the Lord said to me, 'Go; I will send you far away to the Gentiles.' The crowd listened to Paul UNTIL he said this. Then they raised their voices and shouted, 'Rid the earth of him! He's not fit to live!'" Then they through him in prison and he starts writing letters. The Jews had no problem with the Gospel, it was the fact that Paul was gonna share with Gentiles that got them all stirred up. Now back to Ephesians, Paul begins this rabbit trail to comfort the Gentile Ephesians so they aren't discouraged and feel like it's all their fault that Paul is in prison. He begins to explain to them the mystery, his purpose that was given to him from God to share the Gospel to all the world. He encourages these believers to be confident and not discouraged because of his sufferings b/c it is all part of God's plan. So he breaks up his prayer mid-sentence to explain God's plan, then resumes his prayer in verse 14. (Notice verse 1 and 14 both start "For this reason I")
Anyway, just a random thing that jumped out at me while reading Scripture. And some comfort for me and maybe some others as we teach Scripture or share our faith or whatever that it is sometimes ok to have an ADD moment and chase a rabbit trail. Maybe the person your talking to really needs to hear something that has nothing to do with your "planned out" talk.
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