Mystery

I have been having a series of exchanges with a young man in ministry.  He came to me upon recommendation, and although I'm not reaching out to individuals, I could feel the "angst" of ministry in his heart and mind.  Like most disciples (remember disciples are learners) of Jesus, he's looking for answers to some difficult problems of life in ministry.  What I don't do, and won't do, is answer his questions for him.  That would be unvaluable to his own needs.  He needs to wrestle with MYSTERY.

Now when a lot of believers think about mystery they think of something that can't be known.  That is only partially true.  The nature of mystery is that there is something that can't be completely comprehensible; but it does not mean that it is unintelligible.  An example is the Trinity.  Yesterday I spent some time in teaching on the nature of the Trinity.  The Trinity is not completely comprehensible; but it is intelligible.  Mystery doesn't mean something is a contradiction, or a paradox of understanding.  It just means that we are coming to an ocean of something with something quite limited in it's ability to see it all.

God is Mystery.

We can know him, but we will never totally comprehend him.

Ephesians 1:3-9 (NIV)
³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
⁴ For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
⁵ he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
⁸ that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
⁹ And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,

Paul says that we would never have known what God was up to in terms of salvation history without his making it known to us in Christ Jesus' coming.  The average Jewish believer thought that salvation was limited to ethnic Jews who would faithfully seek to do the law.  God's salvation history was to move beyond the Jews to the Gentiles also.  Later in this letter to the Ephesians Paul makes this clear:

Ephesians 3:1-12 (NIV)
¹ For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles--
² Surely you have heard about the administration of God's grace that was given to me for you,
³ that is, the mystery made known to me by revelation, as I have already written briefly.
⁴ In reading this, then, you will be able to understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
⁵ 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.
⁶ 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.
⁷ I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power.
⁸ Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ,
⁹ and to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things.
¹⁰ 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,
¹¹ according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
¹² In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.

Here is Mystery...something that is intelligible - Salvation through God's work, is not totally comprehensible until God makes it clear what is happening.

NOW...apply this same logic to life situations, to the seeming contradictions we are often faced with as people of faith in relation to life difficulties.  That which is intelligible - God's goodness, his mercy, his grace, his protection...is not necessarily comprehensible when we're in the middle of difficult things.

The task of believing, having faith in God, is to trust completely...not explain everything.  It is not a matter of blind trust because there is enough of God's revelation to know that He is true to his word.  It is a trust that expresses faith...even in the lack of evidences not seen.

Peace