God is the highest authority in the universe; God sent Paul as His ambassador to the sinners to speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel (Eph. 6:19-20). An ambassador always represents a higher authority to contact and deal with others. God sent Paul as His ambassador to deal with the sinners, to speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel. If someone rejects you when you are announcing the gospel, you may say, “Sir, I am an ambassador of God sent by Him to you. You should not reject me.” We can be bold because we are God’s ambassadors.
We must speak in boldness the mystery of the gospel. The gospel actually is the good news of God’s economy. In God’s economy there are five big mysteries: 1) the Triune God; 2) the all-inclusive and all-extensive Christ; 3) the consummated, compounded, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, and sevenfold intensified Spirit; 4) the Body of Christ; 5) the New Jerusalem. We should even have the boldness to preach the gospel by telling people about the New Jerusalem. We need to be able to speak with boldness concerning the highest peak of God’s revelation, telling people that God became a man in order that man may become God in life and nature but not in the Godhead. This kind of preaching does work. We should not be afraid and timid when we go out to announce the gospel. This will cause people to reject us. We must go out as God’s ambassadors.
In Romans 15:16 Paul said that he was a laboring priest of the gospel to offer the Gentiles to God. The Old Testament priests offered the sacrifices which typified Christ. But today we, the New Testament priests, offer to God the saved sinners who have been converted into Christ’s members. We are not announcing the gospel for soul-winning. That is too low. Instead, we want to convert sinners into members of Christ and offer them to God as sacrifices. This is the work of a laboring priest of the gospel.
We must announce the contents of God’s economy. This means that we announce God’s incarnation to be a man, His living on this earth for thirty-three and a half years, and His going to the cross to die an all-inclusive death. On the negative side, He terminated everything of the old creation. He also terminated Satan, sin, the world, and the flesh. On the positive side, through His death, He released the divine life within Him into His believers to germinate them with the divine life. Then through resurrection and in ascension, He poured out the Spirit, and the church came into being. The church is the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ is the house of God, the kingdom of God, and Christ’s bride. This will consummate in the New Jerusalem. We need to speak these marvelous things. We should not be very concerned about whether or not others fully understand this. Sometimes they understand much and they will still not believe. Sometimes they do not understand much, but they want to believe. We must change our way. Do not take the old way. Take the new way.
We must announce Christ as the objective Savior and the subjective indwelling Life-imparter. First Timothy 1:15 says that the faithful word is that Christ came into the world to save sinners. This is Christ as the objective Savior of the sinners. Then Paul tells us in Galatians 1:15-16 that God was happy to reveal Christ in him that he might preach Him to others. This is not the outward Savior but the inward, indwelling, Life-imparter. Paul announced Christ as the indwelling One to others.
The gospel preached today by Christianity is altogether too shallow, simple, and poor. Paul announced the gospel of the unsearchable riches of Christ (Eph. 3:8).
In Ephesians 3:4 Paul spoke of the mystery of Christ. We have to learn all these deeper, higher things to speak to others. This is the higher gospel.
In Ephesians 6:19 Paul said, “And for me, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known in boldness the mystery of the gospel.” The mystery of the gospel is Christ and the church for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 5:32).