The Mystery of God by Jon Lewis

It is a Gift to Steward the Mystery of God

I love a good mystery! Few things are more entertaining to me than reading an old Sherlock Holmes story. I also enjoy watching a rerun of the Agatha Christie Poirot mini-series. That’s why I’ve been intrigued by what the Bible calls the “mysteries of God.” Even more, I’ve been wondering exactly what the Apostle Paul meant when he writes,

“This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God .”

I Corinthians 4:1, ESV

Just what does it mean to be a steward of God’s mysteries? The Bible has been around for a couple of thousand years and is not really that mysterious anymore.

Or is it?

Forgotten Truth

That question was answered for me when I taught a course on World Religions. It was for the adult education division of our local Christian university. I figured my students would be young people raised in an American church culture. Surely they would want to compare other religious beliefs to their own Christian heritage. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only were they basically biblically illiterate, but they were also openly antagonistic to Christianity—most identified more with a global secular worldview than anything learned in Sunday School. The Good Samaritan, the Woman at the Well, and even a name like Billy Graham were total mysteries to them. Being introduced to orthodox Christianity (as opposed to media Christianity) was as much a new experience. Most of them were learning about Buddhism, Hinduism, or Islam.

That class experience taught me that not only is God’s Truth relatively unknown and misunderstood by today’s young people. I was challenged about how to be an effective steward of the mystery of God. Especially when faced with a secular culture that is increasingly uninterested in learning more. To move forward with this was no small challenge. Nevertheless, here are two things that I realize are more essential than ever.

Cross-Cultural Communication

I have always lived in the same country. It is as if I had been dropped into a country halfway around the world. That means any meaningful communication I want to have will require first understanding others’ mindsets and values. Ben Pierce does a great job of describing the contemporary worldview of today’s global youth culture. In his book, Jesus and the Secular World: Reaching a Culture in Crisis. He says it is defined by three core ideas: secularism, relativism, and tolerance. Although these words are familiar, their modern definitions are not. Secularism is more about marginalizing and privatizing spirituality than denying it altogether.

Relativism implies no transcendent or absolute truth, except for one—that truth HAS to be relative. Tolerance is now defined as the acceptance of all ideas, but not of all people with different ideas. For me to make the mysteries of God interesting and compelling, I must first understand them better.

Mastering the Mysteries

The second essential is being able to articulate exactly what are the mystrries of God. It must be understandable to whoever I’m talking to. Paul uses the word “mystery” twenty-one times in his epistles, and it appears several other times in the Gospels. Attempting to boil them all down to three key summary statements, I would say they are:

1. Jesus Himself – “so that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” ~ Colossians 2: 2-3 (NIV)
2. The Gospel – “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people” ~. Colossians 1:25 (NIV)
3. Restoration of Everything – “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he outlined in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” ~ Ephesians 1:9 (ESV)

Living as a Steward

On the last day of class, the students were asked what impacted them most about what we had studied. There was, of course, plenty of appreciation for a broader perspective of the world and its many religions. What struck me was the stated affirmation of how I had led the class. It wasn’t so much in the content I presented. It was how they perceived my balance between a passion for what I personally believed and listening to alternative viewpoints. I realized that living as a steward of God’s mysteries was just as important as articulating them.

Jon Lewis is a Senior Associate for Partnership Advancement with OC International and focuses on encouraging global Christian leaders towards greater ministry effectiveness. With over 40 years of experience, he also served as a MAF mission pilot in Africa and as CEO of Partners International.