The sermon continues an ongoing exposition of Ephesians, turning to chapter 3, verses 7 and 8, after reading verses 7 through 13 for context. The preacher recalls that the previous week's message closed with a video of the Kimyal people of Irian Jaya receiving the Bible in their own language for the first time, weeping and rejoicing as though receiving Christ himself, since Christ is the Word made flesh and Scripture is that same Word in written form. This illustrates why Paul, in Ephesians 3, so values the gospel he has been entrusted to proclaim. The chapter opens with Paul explaining that he is a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of the Gentiles, then digresses from verse 2 through verse 12 to explain the purpose of his imprisonment, before returning in verse 13 to his main point: he asks the Ephesians not to lose heart over his sufferings, because his suffering is their glory. The whole digression exists so that the church, reading Paul's account of the mystery of Christ now revealed, would be encouraged rather than discouraged, strengthened in faith to imitate Paul's example of a life poured out for God's glory.

The sermon treats two matters from verses 7-8. First, verse 7: "I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God's grace given me through the working of his power." The preacher asks what "the gospel" refers to here, and traces it back through verse 6, where Gentiles are described as fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus, and further back into chapter 2, where three phrases anchor the gospel concretely: "brought near by the blood of Christ" (2:13), reconciliation accomplished "through his death" as he abolished the law's enmity to create one new humanity (2:15), and reconciliation of both Jew and Gentile to God "through the cross" by killing the hostility (2:16). The gospel, then, is Christ's blood, death, and cross reconciling former enemies to God and to one another — illustrated by 2 Corinthians 5:21, that he who knew no sin was made sin for us so that in Christ we might be reckoned righteous, adopted as God's own children and heirs of his promises. This reconciliation is not achieved by human effort but by "the working of his power" — the same power, per Colossians 1:28-29, by which Paul labors and struggles to present everyone mature in Christ, a power that both raises the spiritually dead to life and continues to conform believers to God's will. Paul calls himself "the very least of all the saints," a self-assessment rooted in his history as a persecutor of the church whose pride was shattered when he met Christ; he came to know that everything he is, he is by grace alone, not by any merit of his own. The application drawn is that recognizing our whole existence as gift produces gratitude, humility, and zeal for God's work rather than for earthly treasure, which Matthew 6 warns can vanish overnight — illustrated by recent stock-market losses tied to tariff announcements, showing how fortunes built on this world are never secure.

Second, verse 8b states the purpose of this grace: "to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ." The underlying Greek carries the sense of "gospelizing" — proclaiming good news — which fits God's larger plan, traced from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 to the vision in Revelation 5:9 of worshippers ransomed "from every tribe and language and people and nation," a plan that includes roughly seventeen thousand distinct people groups worldwide and reaches even the diverse congregation gathered that morning. The word "riches," used repeatedly in Ephesians, points to something of surpassing, satisfying worth — contrasted with a real example the preacher describes of a man whose obsession with a mistress destroyed his marriage and family, a misdirected version of the soul's longing that only Christ can rightly satisfy, echoing both the Song of Solomon's yearning and Jesus' hard saying in Luke that discipleship requires loving him above father, mother, spouse, and children. Whatever is good in life — money, family, comfort — becomes destructive when it replaces Christ as ultimate treasure, because only he, like the living water offered to the Samaritan woman, never fails to satisfy. The sermon then asks whether "the riches of Christ" means gifts Christ gives or Christ himself as the gift, and answers with both: Ephesians 1:7 speaks of redemption and forgiveness "according to the riches of his grace," while Philippians 3:8 shows Paul counting everything else as garbage compared to "the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus." The sermon closes by tying this calling to the local church's mission efforts — planting a Springvale congregation and inviting others to the coming Good Friday service — and with an illustration of the fleeting joy of a new car or a first visit to Melbourne, contrasted with the far greater, inexhaustible joy of knowing Christ, which believers begin to taste now and will know fully only face to face with him.

Bible Verses Used

• Ephesians 3:7-8: The sermon's main text — Paul's calling as a servant of the gospel by grace and power, sent to preach Christ's unsearchable riches to the Gentiles.

• Ephesians 3:1-6, 12-13: Provides the surrounding context of Paul's imprisonment and his appeal that the Ephesians not lose heart over his suffering.

• Ephesians 2:13, 15-16: Defines the gospel concretely as reconciliation through Christ's blood, death, and cross.

• Ephesians 1:7: Cited to show redemption and forgiveness described as flowing "according to the riches of his grace."

• 2 Corinthians 5:21: Used to explain the exchange at the cross — Christ made sin for us so we become righteous in him.

• Colossians 1:28-29: Illustrates the same divine power at work in Paul's labor to present believers mature in Christ.

• Matthew 6: Referenced for the warning against storing up treasure on earth where it can be lost or destroyed.

• Matthew 28 (Great Commission): Cited as the origin of the mandate to make disciples of all nations.

• Revelation 5:9: Used to depict the eschatological gathering of worshippers from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

• Luke 14 (hating father, mother, etc.): Explained as a call to love Christ above every other relationship, not literal hatred.

• Philippians 3:8: Climactic verse showing Paul counting all things as loss compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.