Sermon Tone Analysis

*      *:*1* The veil is rent:  our souls draw near

      Unto a throne of grace.

The merits of the Lord appear,

      They fill the holy place.

His precious blood has spoken there,

      Before and on the throne.

And His own wounds from heaven declare

      Th’ atoning work is done.

‘Tis finished!

Here our souls find rest.

His work can never fail.

By Him, our sacrifice and priest,

      We pass within the veil.

/1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

4But God, being  rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved, us, 5even when were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved 6– and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, 9not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

(Eph 2:1-10, NASB)/

/ /

\\  Let’s pray:

/O Great God who makes all things new, that you would hold up a mirror to our face this morning.

Show us ourselves first as you SAW  us, then as you SEE us – in Christ!, and finally how you PERCIEVE us from this morning forward, living in the power of your Holy Spirit.

Amen./

/ /

:*2* Back in 1984 I had one of the first portable computers made by Compaq.

This thing was about the size of a large sewing machine, and weighed about 50 pounds.

It had a keyboard that dropped off the side, and had no memory at all.

Your cell phone has more computing power than my old computer.

Sometimes I think of the man-hours invested in getting this “cutting edge” technology out the door.

You know what it is like: Design reviews, modifications, budget meetings, marketing strategies, on and on and on.

Many of you are probably involved in something like that right now.

I wonder how many marriages and families were sacrificed, or ethical compromises were made,  for this bit of technology that we laugh at now as a “dinosaur.”

Maybe I just described your life.

:*3* Whatever it is you are chasing after, comes at some cost – money, time, relationships – and you want to know, “is it really worth it?”

In the end, does it satisfy?

You ask, “what’s my life all about, anyway?”

Believe it or not, God has given us the secret to finding significance in life, and satisfaction in whatever makes up our life.

It starts with first, knowing who you WERE, next who you ARE, and only then, why in the world are you still here!

So, if you have a Bible, please turn to Ephesians Chapter 2, verse 1.

If you are using our pew Bible you will find the passage on page 151 in the New Testament.

There Paul starts off with some “happy news:  :*4* 1/And you were dead in your trespasses and sins.

/Some of us may feel “dead” from time to time, or experience frustrations at living in a fallen world.

But you need to know from the outset, that Paul does not use the term “dead” as a metaphor for the frustrations and setbacks of this life.

Paul says that every person experiences death, even while he is alive.

He’s talking about spiritual death.

:*5* A life alienated from God.   It’s a view that sees God as an adversary,  or at least -  someone to hide from, so that I can go and do my own thing.

:*6* So here’s our problem:  we want to have real life, with meaning and significance – but cannot because, apart from Christ, we are broken, and we live in a broken world.

Paul describes it this way:  2/In which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, / - he is talking about Satan right there - /of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.

/The “course of this world” means being caught up in the current of our culture.

It’s like being on a raft in the middle of the Potomac.

Some places on the river the water may move faster than others, but no matter where you are, the current carries you downstream to the sea.

And when you get carried along like that, the results for a society are ugly, aren’t they?

 

:*7* Paul spells it out in Second Timothy 3, but you tell me if this doesn’t sound like the evening news:  /1 …realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come.

2For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. .

.

/( 2 Timothy 3:1-4)   Jesus just puts it this way:  /The love of many will grow cold./

(Matt 24:12) 

 

Try this for a test.

Next time you are standing on line at Giant, or Panera, or MacDonald’s, listen to the carping and complaining all around you.  How do folks talk about the /people/ behind the counter?

Like they are not there?

You know, sometimes Lisa and I will be standing in line, her patiently waiting, me grumbling like an old bear, and she’ll call me on it – when I’m talking about the people behind the counter as though they aren’t there.

:*8* /3Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,/ - that’s God’s wrath -/ even as the rest.//

/  Notice that Paul changes from “you” to “we” here, because – all of us lumped in together in the same category:  dead in our sins.

Paul makes a statement of fact – whether you feel it or not or believe it or not:  a person without Christ is spiritually dead.

The best way to think of it is a total inability to respond to God in a way that will satisfy His holy nature.

Imagine that we were holding a funeral, and here in front we have the coffin.

It is open.

A man walks in and goes up to the dead person and begins to demand that he repay the thousand dollars he owed him.

He screams at the dead person.

He even pounds on his chest.

Will he get anything?

No!

Why not?

Because he is dead!

We all understand that.

The point Paul makes here is that, before Christ, you and I were as dead as that man in the coffin, and incapable of paying God anything we owed Him:  respect, honor, good works, holy lives – anything.

Apart from Christ, we are spiritually dead, and what we need is spiritual life.

So the question is, “how do we get it?”

If you have your own Bible, I want you to circle the next two words, that begin verse 4.  They are, I think, the two most important words in all of Scripture.

:*9* “But God.”

But God. 

 

/4But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, . .

.

*Here’s  the big idea:  Although we were spiritually dead, God made us alive together with Christ.*/

Paul is saying that salvation is a work of God, from beginning to end.

It is God who takes the initiative, even when, and really especially because, we were incapable of doing anything that would please Him or appease Him – because remember that God’s right response to sin – our sin – your sin - my sin – is holy wrath.

Anything less would show him to be an unjust God, one who allows evil to go unanswered.

:*10* But God is also merciful and loving, and THAT prompts Him to save us.

Save us in such a way that He can remain just AND merciful at the same time.

God does not overlook our sin.

No, instead He pays for it Himself, through the death of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ.

We often think of salvation as release from the penalty of Hell, and of course that is a HUGE part of salvation.

But salvation is much, much more than that.

:*11* Not only does God, through Christ, forgive us, He gives us new life – a supernatural life -  life from the dead!   /Even when we were dead in our transgressions, /[God]/ made us alive together with Christ.//

/  From the moment of our first faith in Jesus Christ, God unites us with the Source of all life, the One who because of His righteousness could not be held by the grave, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Remember from last week that Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that they would “know the surpassing greatness of God’s power toward those who believe.”

He wants them to know that the source of vibrant Christianity is the power of God – a supernatural power that enables us to live a life above and beyond the “course of this world.”

It strengthens us to overcome the sinful nature that tugs at our heart.

It prepares us to live a life of meaning and purpose, in relationship with our families, co-workers, friends here at Immanuel, and neighbors in the community.

:*12* What Paul prays for in Chapter 1, he explains here in Chapter 2, and this is what he’s saying:  Just like God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and elevated Him in victory, we, by virtue of being united with Christ, are made alive with Him, and even seated with Him in victory over the course of this world, the influence of our culture, and even the devil himself.

Did you catch that?

God gives us the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and the way He does it is by giving us Christ Himself.

You know, sometimes I think I need more patience, or humility, or kindness, or love  - as though God is issuing me little bags of grace.