Ephesians 3:3-9

3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

The Lord has sent me to you today with a question:

Ephesians 3:16-19

16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;

17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;

19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

“Is God to you a puzzle or a mystery?”

A man named Gregory Treverton wrote an important book called, “Reshaping National Intelligence for an Age of Information”.

In this book, he draws an interesting distinction between puzzles and mysteries.

A puzzle according to Mr. Treverton’s definition is a riddle with a missing piece.

        -Crosswords are puzzles!

        -Osama Bin Laden's location is a puzzle!

        -Amelia Earheart’s location is a puzzle!

        -What happened at Roswell unless you’re the President is a puzzle!

You can think about and think about and think about a puzzle but if the missing data is not provided to you then you will never be able to solve the riddle.

The answer to a puzzle is more data.

If we want to find Osama Bin Laden we can, we just have to spend enough money.  If we collect enough foreign intelligent contacts in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Africa then we will catch him.  Without a crucial connection though, this remains a puzzle.

Puzzles also are different because they come to a distinct and definite end.

A mystery is different though.

With a mystery you have all the pieces to the puzzle.  You just have to sort and analyze the information correctly in order to solve or understand the mystery.

        -For an out of shape person, losing weight and gaining muscle is not a puzzle but it can be a mystery.  We have the internet, books, fitness trainers and tons of other information available to us.  We do not have a lack of data regarding fitness in America yet being fit remains a mystery to most Americans.  Why?  It’s not a lack of data or information…it’s a lack of perspective, a lack of proper attitude and a lack of nuance.  Let’s be real, the key to being fit is moving around more and eating less.  That is not brain surgery yet there are entire majors in college which focus on physical fitness and nutrition.  There is not a MISSING LINK regarding fitness there are only different ways of analyzing or perceiving the facts that are universally known and available.

        - predicting the next 9/11 is not a puzzle it’s a mystery.  There were several memo’s sent by the FBI to headquarters and other locations warning the government that the last one was going to happen.  The CIA knew.  The FBI knew.  The President knew.  We had the data.  We just didn’t correlate the data.  We didn’t focus on the data.  We didn’t know which threat was false and which one was real.  All of the data was before our eyes, we just didn’t know what we were looking at.  The next 9/11 is still an unsolved mystery but it’s a mystery of our inability to adapt to a new threat.

        -Solving the oil and energy crisis is not a puzzle.  Nothing needs to be discovered.  No new technology needs to be developed.  We have the technology for electric cars, nuclear power plants, hydrogen fuel cells and wind farms.  There is not missing data.  We have what we need.  The only thing that we are missing is will, desire or perspective.  So curing our energy crisis is not a puzzle, it’s a mystery.  It’s going to require a new way of looking at things.

For an unsaved person, Jesus Christ and who He is, remains a puzzle.  Sometimes unsaved people are missing the piece of the puzzle called repentance.  Sometimes unsaved people are missing the piece called knowledge.  Sometimes unsaved people are missing the piece of the puzzle called the Holy Spirit.  For someone who is missing a piece…they will be missing PEACE.  When all the pieces are assembled, the puzzle is solved and for the first time, true PEACE is achieved.

Repentance + Knowledge + The SPIRIT = SALVATION. 

For a follower of Christ, God is no longer a puzzle.  God is still a mystery though.  This is the error of many religious people…they assume they know EVERYTHING about God.  We don’t.  Thru Christ, His Spirit and the Word, we have what we NEED to KNOW.  To us finite creatures, our INFINITE God remains a MYSTERY. 

My wife and I have been married for sixteen years.  My wife remains a MYSTERY to me.  I discover new wonderful things about her thru each year.  Neither one of us are the same people that we were sixteen years ago.  Being in love with a mysterious entity is a beautiful thing.  God is our husband and He is a mystery.

(All the husbands in the church raise your hands if you have your wife ALL figured out.)

Many times we struggle in our walk with Christ because we are not partaking in the adventure of discovering the mystery.  (The complexity of God is truly simplicity.)  The breadth, the length, the width and the depth of God is as simple as this:  Love your brother and love God.

Organized religion has made this mystery too difficult to comprehend.  Similar to government bureaucracy, religion does not process this God Data efficiently.  God made his Church simple.  Study His Word to understand the Mystery.  Pray to understand the Mystery.  Serve your family and community to understand the Mystery.  This mystery is not “religious” but it is beautiful!