On Display

Ephesians 3:7-13

Paul continually expresses his amazement that he was chosen by God in the first place and then called by God to preach the gospel to the Gentiles above that. His humility seems genuine (like I have any reason to doubt it!) but I know that if I spoke those phrases - the chief of sinners, the least of all God's people, etc. - it would not be true humility but reverse pride. I'd be looking for someone to say, "You're not so bad." When I realize how pervasive my pride is, I begin to recognize just how much of a sinner I am.
The verse that blows me away is v. 10. We, the Church, display the manifold wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities of the heavenly realms (which I think are angels and spirits). Specifically, in the context, the wisdom of God is seen in the uniting of Gentile and Jew. I think that we can take the principle and apply it to our context: we display God's wisdom to the degree that we, the Church, are spiritually united. I can't get over this: that the "show" that God decided to put on for the spiritual rulers of the heavenly realms was the church. I wonder how many standing ovations God has received based on the "show" the church puts on. I wonder how many times the spiritual rulers of the heavenly realms have wondered if God really knew what he was doing based on the behaviour of the church. But God has committed himself to this choice. He will reveal the wonders of his wisdom through the Church.
What an amazing responsibility we have! No wonder Paul prays in a different epistle that we would be worthy of the calling that we have received. This calling is not just to represent Christ to the world but to display the wisdom of God to the heavenly realms. This should make me fall to my knees and ask God to help us, his Church, to live up to this. There is no way we can do it on human effort (which is maybe why Paul immediately breaks into prayer for the Ephesian church after this section).

Functional Art

Ephesians 2:4-10

I think this answers the question about what it means when it says "the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" (1:18b) I think it's talking about the saints (us) being the inheritance of God. Here's my reasoning: By grace, God has raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms in Christ so that he might display the imcomparable riches of his grace, expressed to us in his kindness in Christ (that's a lot of with and in Christs! 2:5b-7). In other words, all the saints are the evidence or display or God's rich grace and kindness expressed to us in Christ Jesus. Because of the common phrasing, it seems like these two statements are connected (as well as the statement calling us God's possession - 1:14).
The phrase "heavenly realms" appears a few times in this book: 1:3 - we've been blessed in the heavenly realms, 1:22 - Christ is seated in the heavenly realms, 2:6 - we are seated in the heavenly realms, 3:11 - we are evidence of God's wisdom to the rulers of the heavenly realms, 6:12 - our struggle is against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Paul is very aware of the eternal implications of our actions here in time. What we do on earth does echo in eternity (thank you Gladiator!). He is also very confident of eternity, talking as if we are already seated with Christ in heaven and as if the display of God's glory is already complete. I think Paul gets this confidence from 1:13-14 - the Holy Spirit guarantees our inheritance. It's a sure thing!
Finally, Paul says that we have been saved to be God's workmanship (the Greek connotation is "work of art"), created to do good works. We are not just useless paintings hanging on his wall. We are functional art, created to display God's glory, the incomporable riches of his grace and mercy. We are on display for all to see and marvel at. Our role is to point to the glory of our Creator - not just the rulers of the heavenly realms but the people here on earth as well. God has painted or sculpted us with his image and, now that we are redeemed, the image of God has been (and is still being) restored in us. We are to bear that image in the cosmic art gallery to the glory of God.