Ephesians 2:4-10
Notes
Transcript
Handout
But God
But God
You guys came back! Yes! Praise God. This Word is a plumbline…we need to measure up to it. And we can respond two different ways. It can make us squirm or it can draw us in to love Jesus even more. It can make you so uncomfortable that you say...”may that is a hard teaching” and walk away like some of the disciples did in John 6 or it can make you say what Peter said in John 6...
68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”
By your attendance here this morning…you are testifying along with Simon Peter that there is no other place that you would rather be than to be able to hear from Jesus…even if you have to hear hard stuff.
FYI - Last week was hard to hear…but FYI…6 people approached me last week after the service and admitted that they were in need of restoration for various issues there were facing in their lives.
There were people that were quickened by the the Holy Spirit of God, through the preaching ministry of the Word that will not return void…and they responded. They responded and angels are rejoicing...
…but realize there are those who are in close proximity to those who have been effected by the sins of others that are reeling and weeping. Sin separates. It seeks to kill, steal and destroy.
The Gospel is not just for unbelievers…everyday we should trust and run to Jesus. He will give you the strength to be killing your sin. John Pipers says, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.”
Sin inside of you is the worst of all diseases. What about covid, cancer? Yes those are bad and they can kill the body. But Jesus said,
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!
Sin is the worst of all diseases…because it will not only kill your body…but then the necessary retributive action that God must administer to sinners is death…not just one death…but the second death describe in Revelation.
8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The goal of last week, the intention of Paul, was to get you to a place to say…I HATE MY SIN.
Why should we hate our sin?
Because it promises life, but delivers us death. It leaves us enslaved to the devil.
It leaves us enslaved to desires of the body. It leaves us enslaved the futility of our minds. (Mental health)
It makes us children of a wrathful God…who is provoked by our sin. It makes us an awful tragic mess.
No one should have felt good last week. We realized our biggest problem is not realizing that we are the biggest problem.
But if we finally get brought to the point of realizing that the biggest problem is IN not OUTSIDE of us…we can finally cry out to God for the solution.
BUT GOD.
and that is where we start todays message.
Let’s read the text...
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 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, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Last Week: You’re not what you think, you’re worse than you think.
Last Week: You’re not what you think, you’re worse than you think.
This Week: God’s not what you think, He is infinitely better than you think.
This Week: God’s not what you think, He is infinitely better than you think.
Paul just describe how bad we were, and now he is going to paint a picture of how amazing God is! And he is going to contrast this by referencing a few of God’s attributes.
Attributes of God (v. 4-5).
Attributes of God (v. 4-5).
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
What is the difference between God’s grace and God’s mercy?
Tying it back to last week. We were wretched and deplorable. But God...
BUT - sets up a contrast, a strong contrast to what was just said…I had friend that whenever we used to talk about this passage he would say it is the biggest “butt” in the bible. There are a lot of “big but’s” in the bible, but this certainly is in the running for the most dramatic.
Last week was hard to stomach…it was ferocious and brutal…but in an equally contrasting way this week the message is compassionate and kind and life giving.
Paul is lead by the Holy Spirit highlight three amazing attributes of God. Mercy, Love and Grace.
The way the words appear in the text are amazing…let’s look at the word and notice how they appear.
First is Mercy - Mercy is to show undeserved kindness or concern for someone in serious need. Last week it was clear from the text that we were in serious need.
Mercy was God’s solution. I am not going to give those wretched little sinners what they deserve. In fact I am going to give them exactly opposite of what they deserve. The text says that God, “being rich in mercy.”
Being = present active participle (mercy is an attribute of God…it is in His very being.”)
And this mercy is not just in the being of God…but it is in His being in a rich way.
πλούσιος = excessive…plenty…more than enough. (pertaining to that which exists in a large amount).
God has a large amount of mercy…well I hope so…remember how bad we were? Yes…but His mercy is more.
What love could remember, no wrongs we have done
Omniscient, all-knowing, He counts not their sum
Thrown into a sea without bottom or shore
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
What patience would wait as we constantly roam
What Father so tender is calling us home
He welcomes the weakest, the vilest, the poor
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
What riches of kindness He lavished on us
His blood was the payment His life was the cost
We stood ‘neath a debt we could never afford
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, New every morn’
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
Our God has plenty of mercy. and not only that…He also has love.
Second is Love - This word “love” is here to answer the question why is God rich in mercy toward us. The reason why He is showing undeserved kindness or concern for for us in our misery is because He has love for us.
He has a special affection, a loving concern, a sincere appreciation and high regard for us.
Who me? Look at me! You described me very well last week Shawn…how can God have concern for me? I could never find it in myself to love someone who is as wretched and back stabbing as me…
Well...God is not like us…He is supremely above us. His love for His creation is unmatched. It is described in our text as a here “great” love. The “love” that comes from God is supreme by nature, just like any of His attributes are. They are to the Nth degree because it is coming from God the author of all life.
The “love” that God has for us is in need of further qualifiers to describe it. God’s mercy is “rich” and here God’s love is “great.”
Sounds trite…”man that’s great.” This isn’t trite. This word is here to describe something that is incredible in and of itself…and adding this word onto it magnifies its magnificence even more.
It’s not love…it’s great love.
And it’s not just great love that is pent up or damned up and withheld....it is great love that has been extended to us. Look what it says, “with which He loved us.”
Wow…when we realize that God has great love and pours it out on us, we should be lead to think of the third attribute mentioned in these initial verses. Grace.
Grace: I don’t deserve this gift.
Mercy is showing compassion and kindness to someone by not giving someone what they do deserve.
Grace is showing compassion and kindness to someone by giving them a gift that they don’t deserve.
Grace most often in Scripture carries the idea of bestowing a gift upon someone else. The biggest example of this in the bible is found in the Gospel of John.
How did grace come to us…came in gift form...
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God’s riches of grace is a person…it’s Jesus.
We haven’t really even started preaching yet. All of this is just defining terms so that can see what the text is saying.
The textual idea of the passage about God being infinitely greater than we can think has already been heard loud and clear just by talking about these three attributes of God…but there is so much more to discover.
So we are going to ask 3 questions as we work through the rest of this text in order to discover how infinitely great our God is and then we will ask one final question to see how all of this greatness of God applies to us. But before we do that let’s pray.
Q. 1 - What did God do? (v. 5-6).
Q. 1 - What did God do? (v. 5-6).
A. He MADE US ALIVE together with Christ.
A. He MADE US ALIVE together with Christ.
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 already saw that we were dead in our trespasses and sins. We looked at it last week, but God intervened and did something about our deadness. He “made us alive.” This echos back to the creation account and the formation of the first living man.
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Which of the three phases in 2:5-6 grabs you the most? “made alive,” “raised us up,” or “seated us with?”
Think about how intimate and close this process is. This is a very precious, delicate, life giving thing that our God did. In Genesis 2 humans were given the ruakh of God so that they weren't just dirt, but they were also now animated. They were physical and spiritual living breathing beings.
Have you ever been close to someone that you breathed in there breath? Ya it’s disgusting! Well I mean when it is not disgusting. Like after you brush and floss and listerine your mouth out and kiss your wife. You move in close and as she opens her mouth and you open yours there’s this little moment of air rushing into your nose. It’s intimate and energizing.
This is what our God did to create us initially…and I think it is here to foreshadow what He would eventually do to make “new creations” out of us when we see and respond to the beauty of the sacrifice of Christ.
“He made us alive together with Christ.”
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,
“He made us...” not “we made us.” We were dead in the trespasses and sins....
This is God’s doing. This is amazing. And our being made alive by God is in accordance “with Christ.”
A. He RAISED us up with Him.
A. He RAISED us up with Him.
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,
This being “made alive,” this awakening doesn’t happen outside of an association “with Christ.”
I love the ordinance of baptism because it portrays this new life beautifully.
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Because Christ was raised from the dead, we to are “raised” or “made alive,” At the moment of conversion, we are right now “spiritually” made alive and it is a picture of our ultimate redemption when one day our physically body will be raised even after there planted 6 feet under ground.
Because we are united to Christ in His death, we are also united to Him in His resurrection to walk in newness of life. We are united to Jesus…we are “in Christ.” There is a vital union between us. The same sap that flows through the vines also flows in the branches.
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,
The text says, “He made us alive together with Christ.” It doesn’t say, we made ourselves alive. This is rich mercy, great love, and wondrous grace.
Those in Christ are ALIVE and have been SET FREE from the bondage of sin and decay.
A. He SEATED us with Him.
A. He SEATED us with Him.
First of all notice that this is past tense. This was something that happened to the Ephesians. This wasn’t something they were looking forward to…this is something they could look back on and remember…like when you look at pictures from your vacation from a previous year. The pictures remind you of what you experienced. This is also past tense for us…we are “seated” and it says, “in the heavenly places.” This is the third time we see this phase in the text...
“in the heavenlies” - not places…it localizes it too much…as if it is a specific location…
This is referencing the idea that we no longer belong to this world. Remember the great contrasting word “But?” In the previous section Paul said…we “followed the course of this world.” Our bodies, our minds were enslaved to the prince of the power of the air....but here this phrase indicates that we no longer belong to this world.
Do you know how often followers of Christ are referred to as strangers and aliens in this world in the NT? We are sojourners here. Pilgrims on this earth.
20 But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
If sometimes you don’t feel comfortable and at home here in this world…its because you are indwelt by the Spirit of God and you are rightfully longing for a better country.
This place is “run by the prince of the power of the air” and it’s a toilet bowl. But we are here to be the hands and feet to serves those who are still in their crooked depravity.
What does it mean to be “seated?”
What do you do at the end of a long day of work? You sit down....kick your feet up. (We will talk about the significance of footstools at some point in the future....but for now.) Jesus is seated in heaven…
What is the significance of being seated? The work is done.
This is remarkable to consider…and when we take time to think on this union and partnership with God that was initiated by God Himself because of His mercy, love and grace…it lead us to the second question.
Q. 2 - Why did He do it? (v. 7).
Q. 2 - Why did He do it? (v. 7).
What was God’s motive for doing all this? What was His intention for such productive mercy, great love and grace?
Why did God “save” us? Look at verse 7.
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
There is a great superlative idea here. “Immeasurable” - that means “it can’t be measured.”
If there was a Show and Tell time at your next Life Group Session what would you bring?
ILLUSTRATE: Remember show and tell in school? Each student gets to bring an object to the classroom and their job is to show an object (toy or game or an xray) and then tell the story that is associated with the object. As you bring your object you really think this thing is the coolest thing ever. Like you want to bring the thing that is unique and that no one else has…you do this so that people can not only marvel at the thing you brought, but also so they in some senses marvel at you. It’s really Show and Covet. O man, I wish I had that. That thing is awesome…or the story associated with that thing is awesome…it’s unique. It’s different. It’s one of a kind. In a sense it is holy.
A Cosmic Show and Tell time is what God is engaging here. And let’s see what He brings? He doesn’t bring us and show us off. He brings His, “immeasurable riches of His grace.”
Teacher: ok Yahweh it’s your turn…what did you bring?
God: “Well…I could have brought everything…because it’s all mine, but I decided to bring something uniquely special today.
Teacher: Oh how exciting…what is it?
God: “Well…it’s what I call the, “immeasurable riches of my grace.”
Teacher: Ok…that’s great Yahweh…but…we can’t see it.
God: “You can’t see it?”
Teacher: “no we can’t see it”
God: Oh…you have to look closely.
(And all of a sudden on the projector screen of the cosmic classroom appears and image or Revelation 7:9.
9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
God: Look! Look! Look closely. Look at all of them! They’re all dressed the same. The “immeasurable riches of my grace” did that!
7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
The “immeasurable riches of my grace” was expressed in the “kindness” that was extended to those who are “IN CHRIST.”
Look what it did. Look how clean and pure they are. They are perfect. They are spotless. I did this. I did this. I did this by slaughtering my son for them. You should have seen them before! They were dead in their trespasses and sins. They followed the course of the world and were enslaved to the devil. They were helpless to fight of the temptations of their own bodies and they were futile in their thinking and they were objects of my wrath. But look at them! Look at THEM. When you look at them you tangibly see “the immeasurable riches of my grace expressed in my kindness toward them.” It has made their scarlet hearts, whiter than snow.”
Teacher: Okay…thanks Yahweh…now who wants to go next?
I said this in the first message on Ephesians. This book is about GOD and what He has done.
How do you measure something that is immeasurable? You don’t. You marvel at it.
And that leads us to the next question. How did He do this? How does it become our reality?
How do you measure something that is immeasurable?
Q. 3 - How did He do it? (v. 8-9)
Q. 3 - How did He do it? (v. 8-9)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Whose job is it to save sinners according to 2:8-9? Why is it that way?
God decided to give you a gift. God decided to give us the gift of salvation. The basis of our salvation is God’s grace.
The phrase “have been saved” begs the question…well what are we saved from? We already talked about that last week. Ultimately we are saved from being a child of God’s wrath.
We are saved by God grace. God’s grace was the causative agent to bring us salvation…and even the faith that we express in what He has done for us is a gift…that is what the “this” is referring to. Grace, salvation, faith - “this” package deal is not from you…it is from Him.
Why? - So that no man can boast. If it was up to us…we could boast. Let’s go back to that Cosmic Classroom.
Teacher: Okay…thank you Yahweh, your immeasurable grace IS impressive. Now who wants to go next.
US: ME, ME, ME (choose me).
Teacher: ok…Timmy (there are so many Tim’s in this church)…what did you bring?
US: Look at my faith. Look at my faith! - Look how great I am. I am believing the right thing.
No!!!
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!
44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.
Our faith isn’t a work…it is a gift. If it is a work then God would owe us. Salvation is not a wage for the good things we have done.
The faith that is part of the package deal is ours and is a humble expression of trust in the provision of God.
Illustrate: This isn’t like we are partners with God on this going in together and pooling our resources hoping we have enough to buy something of value.
Like we don’t go into a store together and see “Salvation” up on the top shelf and say to the clerk…okay. How much is that?
Clerk: O, well that’s really expensive…you need Grace AND Faith to get that.
God looks over at you and says… “okay buddy…let’s go halfies!…I’ll provide the grace and why don’t you muster up some faith little buddy and together will solve this little problem of you being an object of my wrath. Sound good?”
No…this is all a gift of God.
The faith that we has been granted to us is the ability to see and savor Jesus Christ and all that He has done for us. And when it has been revealed to us what GOD has done for us…we express our trust and belief in what He has done.
This was done to remove boasting…well not to remove it completely…but to enable the one who truly is capable of real boasting to boast. Boasting belongs to God. And He boasts in His immeasurably rich grace.
The grace is not from you…salvation isn’t from you…faith isn’t from you...
It is a gift. God gave you a gift! What should we do with this gift? That is the final question of response today.
What do we do now? (v. 10)
What do we do now? (v. 10)
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
We do that which we were created to do. He made us....He created us to do good works.
We don’t “get saved” by doing good works…we do “good works” because that is what we are saved to do.
So what “good work” should we do?
The ultimate work that God wants us to do…is to do the work of “believing” in the the one God sent.
John records the words of Jesus in...
29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
Do any of you find it laborious to “believe?” Do any of you struggle with doubt? Do any of you think all this stuff sounds awesome Shawn, but it doesn’t feel real. It’s hard to believe it’s true.
YUP - Jesus never said this would be easy.
Our job…our primary work is to come running to God in our unbelief and say
24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”
and when we do that…our faith has legs and we follow him no matter what He leads us to do.
Good works…what are those? I don’t know what to do? Of course you do. You know what to do for others, because it has been done to you.
It’s the GOLDEN RULE!
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Look at what God has done for you. You were vile and wretched and underserving of His love…but because of His great love....that He didn’t keep to Himself, but instead spilled it over onto you…He didn’t give you what you deserved. His mercy was rich toward you.
Not only that, He bestowed a gift on you that you could never purchase…
He gave you a gift even when we were actively following in the footsteps of His enemy.
We weren’t just holding Him at arms length…we were hoping He was within arms length so we could land one on Him.
Don’t you know Jesus was slapped in the face by the soldiers? (John 18:22)
But as we were walking away...He tapped us on the shoulder and we turned around to see Jesus with holes in his hands and feet.
And while we were yet sinners Christ died for us…and He gifted you with grace and that grace resulted in eternal life.
It resulted in a new creation. It resulted in a new purpose. It resulted in something that you could genuinely boast in without being guilty of being proud or arrogant…because the good gift you recieved didn’t come from the work of your hands or the sweat of your brow…rather it came by grace through faith with great love and so you say…look at Him!
Look at what He has done. Look at what He did for me…on my behalf. Bruised, beaten and bloodied on my behalf…look at Him. What great LOVE is this?!?
What can I do? What should I do in response?
I’ll go for a walk. I will follow Him ANYWHERE…no matter what the cost. I will lay down my life for Him. I have been crucified with Christ and the life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for me.
Do you know what the greatest form of flattery is? Imitation!
I am amazed by Him and I want to be like Him, so I am going to love what He loves and hate what He hates and dispense rich mercy, great love and costly grace to everyone in my path because that is what He has done for me.
This will extend to the wife who has sinned against her husband.
This will extend to the husband who has sinned against his wife.
This will extend to the kids who have failed to honor their parents.
This will extend parents who have exasperated their kids.
For the membership here at FCC, we will be like Christ.
We will walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in.
We will be the hands and feet of Jesus in this world as though God were making His appeal through us.
This all an act of God’s rich mercy, great love and marvelous grace.
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary's mount out-poured–
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!