Pray to start
Introduction
When I was younger, my family would often go on holiday over Easter and Mum and I would go to a service on Easter day at the local church, which was always interesting. (I remember one year having to sit through a challenging service in Spain which was conducted entirely in Latin!) One year we were staying in Oswestry near the Welsh border and we shuffled into a pew next to a young boy and his mum. This particular church traditionally gave Easter eggs out to all the children at the end of the service and I could hear the little boy next to me asking his mum every few minutes or so when he was going to get his egg. She kept telling him to be patient and wait until the end, but his excited anticipation was obvious. Eventually the service ended and the stewards came round with the eggs. I was a teenager at the time and so was deemed too old to get an egg (which is weird because I don't think you're ever too old for chocolate!) Anyway, there was a look of delight on the little lad's face as he clutched the chocolate he'd been waiting patiently for. Then I saw him look down at his egg and he looked at me. Then he looked down at his egg again, and then looked at me. Then he looked at his egg again before tugging on my sleeve and saying, "Excuse me miss. Would you like my egg?"
I wasn't a christian at the time, but I learnt lot about sacrificial giving from that little boy. However, it wasn't until later that I learnt about the greatest gift of all, and that's what we're going to look at today, focussing on Ephesians 2: 1 - 10.
Read passage
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast.
For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Firstly, let's look at this passage within the context of the whole of Ephesians.
Context in Ephesians
Paul is writing from prison to the gentile believers in Ephesus to encourage them in their faith and remind them of their identity in Christ. He wants to inspire them with God's love and spur them on to live holy lives in the light of it.
In chapter 1, Paul reminds the Ephesian believers of the blessings that they have now that they are in Christ.
v 4 - They have been chosen before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless.
v 7 - Their sins are forgiven
v13 - They are marked with the Holy Spirit
What a great way to start a letter!
Paul then goes on to say that he hasn't stopped giving thanks for the Ephesians and continues to pray for them, that they may know God's hope and power. He shows a clear love for the Ephesian believers.
In chapter 2: 1 - 10 Paul wants the believers in Ephesus to fully understand the gospel. They also need to see the complete contrast between rebellious living and living for Christ and they need to understand that they are saved by grace alone and not by works.
In the rest of the book, Paul shows that the gospel unites Jews and Gentiles in one inheritance and goes on to teach about what authentic gospel living should look like.
So let's look at chapter 2: 1 - 10 in more detail.
3 key points:
Sin leads to death
Alive through Christ
Grace not works
Sin leads to death
What is sin?
v1 Paul says that the Ephesians were dead in their transgressions and sins, as are those who continue to be disobedient to God.
v2 Following the ways of this world instead of God's ways.
v3 Gratifying the sinful nature.
Shows the essence of what sin is - being self-centred rather than God centred.
It is rebellion against God.
There was a lot of overtly ungodly living in Ephesus at the time that Paul was writing.
Last week I was on holiday in Turkey and I had the privilege of visiting Ephesus. My friend and I walked through the ruined city trying to imagine what it would have been like to live there, before we sat and read the book of Ephesians in the great theatre. [Show picture] One of the things that struck me was the idolatry that went on there. One of the things we saw was a brothel dedicated to the goddess Venus. And the goddess Artemis was extensively worshipped. In fact, the great Temple of Artemis was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world (it isn't around any more cos it got burnt down - they had arsonists even in those days!). Artemis was supposed to be really beautiful, but I don't think she's much of a looker! [Show picture of Artemis].
True in our society today. We have shopping centres like temples and make idols of work, sex, money, family. It's the same old hard-hearted rebellion against the one true God.
What is the penalty?
v3 Objects of wrath. God is perfect and his standards are perfect holiness. We've fallen short of those standards and therefore face God's judgement. God's judgement is actually an act of love because it shows that he's not indifferent to us - that our actions matter.
[Murderer example - we would feel it is unjust if he or she just 'got away with it' - it would make a mockery of our significance as human beings.]
God is the source of all life and if we decide to turn our back on him, we are cutting ourselves off from life. We get what we choose and we get what we deserve, which is the death penalty.
v3 Paul makes it clear that ALL of us, without exception, have lived like that.
It's interesting to note that the apostle Paul is classing himself as someone who has lived among the disobedient and gratified the sinful nature. Before he received Jesus' forgiveness, Paul was a zealous Pharisee and prided himself on his legalistic rulekeeping. He was a religious leader of the highest pedigree and yet, in God's eyes, he was an ungodly rebel deserving of death. It's amazing that Paul's life had been so transformed by the gospel that he was able to see his former self-righteousness for what it was and be humbled by God's grace.
So Paul is telling the Ephesians that they are all sinful and deserving of death. And this applies to us today as well.
This might seem like a gloomy message for Paul to be telling the Ephesians, but we need to understand the true nature of sin and what it leads to for the good news of Jesus to make sense to us. We often lose sight of God's great love and forgiveness when we forget how desperately we need it.
[Leper example - imagine someone ran up to me with some medicine and said "Great news - this medicine will cure leprosy!". Well it would be an interesting piece of information and I would be glad that there's a cure, but it wouldn't have any personal impact on me. But then imagine I had the disease - that I'd suffered agony night and day because of it. If someone came up to me saying "Great news - here's the cure!" it would be more than an interesting piece of information - it would be a life-transforming moment.]
We need to see that we all have the terminal illness of sin. But the good news is that there is a cure!
Alive through Christ
v4 - 5 "Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved."
This is the very crux of the gospel that we're celebrating 2000 years on.
As God is perfectly just, he must punish sin, but such is his love that he decided to take the punishment for our sin on himself by sending his sinless son Jesus to die for us.
v4 and v7 - Look at God's heart towards us:
"Great love for us", "Rich in mercy" "Kindness to us"
v5 Even before we'd asked for forgiveness, Christ had gone to the cross for us.
Even while we were living in a way that was so offensive to him, he went to the cross to take the punishment for our sins. He died for the people who spat at him and taunted him as he struggled under the weight of the cross; he died for those who hammered the nails into his hands and feet; and he died for all of us who - 2000 years later - ignore him, mock him, worship other 'gods' and think we know better than him.
v6 We have been raised with Christ. Our citizenship in heaven is secure. Past tense - 'it is finished'.
Nothing we can add to the work Christ has done. Look back at chapter 1, v 3:
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ."
The reason the Ephesians can have a certain hope of heaven is because of the completed work of Christ on the cross, and it's the same for us.
[Muslim friend - can't be sure of heaven. She just has to hope she's worked hard enough when it comes to judgement. Pit analogy - Imagine we've fallen down a pit and can't climb out. All other religions and philosophies have leaders at the top shouting instructions of how to get out. But we can't get out on our own. Jesus comes into the pit with us and winches us to safety.]
Christ's death and resurrection mean that sin is paid for once and for all and that his inheritance as the righteous son of God is our inheritance too.
Grace not works
v5, v7, v9:
"It is by grace you have been saved"
"Incomparable riches of his grace"
"Not by works"
Paul emphasises grace to the Ephesians because it's so important for them to understand. The gentiles had been outsiders - they weren't part of Israel and weren't part of God's kingdom.
But by God's grace in Christ they can now have all the blessings of children of God. To many gentiles, this may have seemed outrageous - they weren't qualified for God's kingdom by being circumsized -and yet Paul is telling them that Christ alone has qualified them for the kingdom.
It's not the Jewish law that brings salvation, but rather Christ.
We too need to understand there's nothing we can do to 'earn' a place in heaven.
In 21st century Britain, it is very difficult to understand grace. We're often sceptical of anything claiming to be 'free' - we always look for the strings attached.
[Powerpoint - examples of advertising. "Free book" in huge letters and then in tiny print it says "if you spend £100 on other books in our shop, offer subject to availability.]
We also like to be able to earn things and work for things. I remember a few years ago being given a car by some people at church. When I got home from church, my parents asked if I'd had a good time and I said, "Yes, some people gave me a car!". Understandably they said I should give them money for it - that I couldn't just accept it for free. But then it's not a gift. We can't possibly pay Jesus back for what he's done for us.
Grace is extravagant!
All we need to do is accept it - but we do need to do that.
v8 - We need to put our faith in Jesus.
There is an active response. [I had to accept the car for it to benefit me]
Where does that leave good works? Isn't christianity about trying to be a good person?
v10 We are God's workmanship. God has prepared good works for us to do.
By accepting God's salvation we're free to be the people God created us to be.
[Met a man called Spidey in Turkey and he asked, "Because you've been forgiven by God, does that mean you could go and murder someone?" Marriage analogy - I love God so want to please him.]
The Holy Spirit working in us makes us more like Christ and enables us to live a life that pleases him.
In the rest of Ephesians, Paul teaches about what holy living should look like - read it at home.
Eph 5: 1:
"Be imitators of God, there fore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us"
Conclusion
Sin leads to death
Alive through Christ
Grace not works
Our response:
Celebrate Jesus on this Easter day and worship him.
Non-Christians - talk with someone and pray with someone about this message.
Hold onto the truth of the gospel.
Prayer
Ephesians 3: 16 - 21
Amen!
Back to 'Talks and Training'
