Sermon Tone Analysis

*Introduction*

Two older fellows were at the wake of a friend.

One of them said to the other, “Jim looks good, doesn’t he?”

The other said, “Well, he should.

He just got out of the hospital.”

Listen, I have a news flash you for you.

Dead people don’t look good!

They may look more or less like the person they were depending on how much trauma they have been through or the skills of the mortician, but they do not look good.

That is because the animating spirit that gave vitality to that person is gone and it is life that makes a person look good, not some clever arrangement of the facial features!

Death, folks, is ugly, intentionally so.

Suppose you walk into room that contains two beds.

A man is lying in each bed.

You touch the hand of the first and his eyes open; he looks at you; he responds.

You touch the hand of the other and there is no reaction whatsoever.

You ask the first to sit up and he immediately does so.

You speak to the second, asking him to sit up and there is no response whatsoever.

You hold up an eye chart to the first and he tells you it is “E” at the top.

You forcefully hold open the eyes of the second and hold up the eye chart.

There is no response.

Why is there such a difference in reaction to the same stimulus?

Why, of course – one man is alive, and the other is dead?

Now, there are two things we need to get about this.

First, the man who is dead is absolutely incapable of responding to any physical stimulus.

But second, and this point is often missed, the one who is alive cannot help responding.

He cannot not respond.

If you do not believe these two propositions, just take a simple sewing needle.

Now, plunge it into the arm of the dead man.

What happens?

Nothing!

Of course, nothing happens.

But now stick the man who is alive.

What happens?

Dude – a reaction!

You may even find yourself picking yourself up off the floor, but you are surely going to get a reaction.

He cannot not respond.

Got it?

So – when Paul, like Jesus before him, likens the unregenerate person – someone who has never accepted Christ as his or her Savior and Lord – when they call such a person dead, they mean two things.

First, he or she cannot, simply cannot respond to spiritual things – don’t get it, can’t understand it, would never put God above self because there is not spiritual sensitivity.

But second, if that person truly becomes a child of God, everything changes and from that moment on they cannot not respond to spiritual things.

Doesn’t mean they get perfect or even close to, but change they will, must and shall.

Now – hold that thought.

We are at verses 5-6 of Ephesians 2, but first the context.

In chapter one Paul rhapsodizes over the fact that those who are “in Christ” have been chosen by God before the foundation of the world; they have been adopted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed and sanctified.

Wow – Unbelievable privileges and all for me, right?

Well, yes, but no.

We get the benefits and the privileges individually all right, but God’s purpose in all of this goes way beyond just me.

His primary goal in all this is in 1:10, “as a plan for the fullness of time (that is yet future for ultimate fulfillment), to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”

In other words, in simplest terms God has a purpose to remove alienation, abolish sin and Satan and all who follow him and restore paradise.

That’s the plan – and amazingly, against all common sense and in contravention of any conceivable worldly process or wisdom, God is using us, his church, true believers to bring this about.

Chapter 2 – we see that the process has already started, is already being modeled and worked out.

This is being done in two ways – first by the removal of the alienation between man and God – verses 1-10; then second, based on the first, the removal of alienation between people.

First a vertical solution – then a horizontal one.

So, we’ve been looking at verses 1-10.

How does God affect that vertical relationship?

Answer?

By grace through faith in Christ alone.

Solus Christus (only Christ), Sola Gratia (only grace) and sola fide (only faith) in the words of the Reformers.

Amazing Grace in our title for these verses.

We’ve also see that these verses divide into three parts – Dead men walking, verses 1-3, explaining why grace is needed in the first place.

It is because all people are dead in sin, disobedient to God and ultimately incapable of helping themselves.

Doesn’t mean that they are all bad, or that some aren’t better than others or that they never do any good, but it does mean that man outside of Christ is spiritually dead, living lives of selfishness, sinful to the core and unresponsive to God.

But then come verses 4-9, “But God”.

Beautiful, wonderful, redemptive verses offering a lifeline to man outside of God.

In these verses we are introduced to God’s passion; His power, His process and His purpose in saving mankind.

Last week – His passion, consisting of His unmatched love and mercy – qualities He absolutely overflows with and most clearly demonstrated at the cross where He finally took the penalty of our sin upon Himself in the person of His son, Jesus Christ.

This work on the cross distinguishes the God of the Bible from any other.

He is the only one who has every given His own life for those of His creation.

Where every other God demands; He gives.

He wants to redeem us, and through Christ’s death and resurrection, He not only wants to but He can.

So look with me at the mighty power of God that enables Him to take a completely spiritually dead person and raise him to a new life in Christ.

*I.

His Power*

We have had no finite verbs in Ephesians 2 up to this point.

Now, in verses 5-6 we have three of them.

Everything else has been preliminary to this.

God has seen our plight.

He has had great mercy and love which caused Him to send His own son to die in our place and as a result, and only as a result of that sacrifice, He is able to make us alive, raise us up and seat us with Christ in the heavenlies.

That, folks, is power.

5) even when we were dead in our trespasses, 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,

We have seen this power before in chapter 1 in the life of Christ.

No one could deny the power of God displayed in Christ, both His ministry and His resurrection.

It was visible, it was verifiable and it was attested by hundreds of witnesses.

Now, he says, whether you realize it or not, what He did for Christ physically, He has done for you spiritually – and get ready, because that same power will be applied to you physically one day too.

It’s a package deal and oh, what a deal.

Paul uses three wonderful words here.

He coined them – to make a point.

He took three well-known words and then he added the Greek prefix συν to each which means “with” and so Paul is saying God “made us alive with Christ, then he “raised us up with Christ”, and He “seated us with Christ”.

So everything that happened to Christ has also happened to us if we are believers.

This is God’s power at work in the life of every believer, so let’s look at what these three things mean.

*A.

Resuscitated With Him* (A New Disposition – from self-centered to Christ-centered)

Paul’s first comment is that he has made us alive together with Christ.

What absolute joy attaches to that statement!

It is in direct and immediate contrast to our condition as dead in trespasses and sins as described in verse 1. Make no mistake.

God is in the life-giving business.

Jesus says in John 5:21 21) For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

Imagine what it would be like to be sitting by a loved one who has just passed away – unresponsive, unmoving, unfeeling – and there is nothing that you can do.

But imagine the joy of somehow seeing that one suddenly begin to move and then to sit up, brought to life, fully responsive and engaged and joyful.

Wouldn’t that be something?

And that is just what Christ has done for us spiritually.