For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles…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.

 Ephesians 3:1, 6

Paul, raised as a strict Pharisee in Turkey shocks us with his confession that he is Jesus’ prisoner!  Why is this so dramatic?  I think it was because he risked all by loving and living with Gentile believers.  He was a prisoner of the love of Jesus!

Does this speak to me?  Am I a lover of all believers?  Near and far?  With all their flaws, in uncounted cultures now and always? Including my brothers and sisters in Christ here on Lyndell Drive in Lancaster, and in the small congregation called Chestnut Hill, our primary fellowship?

This is radical, indeed.   For Paul, this was the bed-rock of his faith, and his life – 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.

Co-heirs with Jews and Greeks now in one body?  Only in Christ Jesus is this possible!  Both are sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.  This is a unity that is only possible because we are all saved by Jesus and all full of the Holy Spirit of God.

This is as true today as the day it was written.  Does this describe my experience and testimony?  I pray so.