Scroll down to see and play Audio.
Good morning my dear friends. How are you today? I wonder if you are delighting in Ephesians as much as I am?
Have you noticed when the Bible uses “all inclusive” phrases like ‘all of us’ or ‘everyone’ it should grab us, because there are no exceptions! We have a natural tendency to think we are the exception to the rule, isn’t that true? So it’s important for us to see ourselves as we really are, as God sees us.
There’s an ‘all inclusive’ phrase that anchors the first part of Ephesians 2, which we’re looking at today. Do you see it in vs. 3… “all of us”.
While Paul is writing this letter primarily to the Christians in the great city of Ephesus, his plan was for it to be copied and scattered throughout the Empire, everywhere Christians were gathering. I’ve often wondered…since Paul is one Bible personality who obviously had a global vision similar to Jesus, a desire to see the Gospel taken far beyond every horizon. Did God give Paul some sense of the day when ships would take his letters to the far side of the oceans, in all directions? You see my friends, while in some of Paul’s letters we sometimes find things that especially are focused on a particular group of people, like Galatians or Corinthians, this letter is for all Christians of all time in all places!
So today let’s look at Ephesians 2:1-10. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins…” That’s an all-inclusive statement. Right? Paul write it similarly to the Roman Christians: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) “…the wages of sin is death…” (Rom. 6:23) No exceptions!
Every human being since Adam and Eve, has been born with a sin nature which we cannot change by any effort of our own. Very early in our infancy, that sin nature acts out… in selfish attitudes, harsh words, choices and actions which often bring the shout “NO” from parents, or a slap or a wooden spoon. That’s called sin, and we can’t help it, we can’t change it and we can’t go back and undo any of it in our past. In fact, the pile of our sin guilt just keeps getting bigger every day of our lives…all of us, all inclusive, no exceptions! Do you agree?
So Paul in Ephesians 2, paints a very clear, very graphic picture of ALL of us. . .
1. “You were dead in your sins…” That’s plural YOU, all of us! Of course we were still alive and sinning more every day, but spiritually we were dead in sin, with no hope of rescue, all of us!
2. “…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.” The “you” is all inclusive, all of us! Ok friends… who is this ‘ruler of the kingdom of the air’? Well that’s Satan of course, the leader of the kingdom of darkness and evil. The ‘ways of this world’ means, wicked ways, evil ways, selfish ways…anything and everything that is NOT holy. And do you see that this dark spirit, this ruler of darkness is “at work in those who are disobedient.”? Disobedient to what or who? Disobedient to God and God’s holy ways, God’s Word, God’s commands, God’s desires. Once again…an all inclusive diagnosis of humanity without God!
Then in verse 3, Paul wants us to put down the stones we are about to throw at all the wicked people we know, and look ourselves in the mirror, because we once were just like them! Notice the language Paul uses to remind us it is NATURAL in EVERY human being…“…the cravings of our sinful nature”. We don’t need look for a school to teach us to be evil… it comes natural to ALL of us!
As are result the latter part of verse 3 applies to all of us “Like the rest we were by nature, objects of wrath.” All EXCEPTIONS please stand up! Wave your arms, and tell us please how it is you are exempt from God’s justice wrath? How it is you are not a sinner? How it is you’ve been able to live up to this moment, from the moment of your birth, sinless perfection!? Oh please tell us…we long to meet such a person!?
I don’t see anyone standing, do you my friends? There are NO exceptions!
Paul loves to use words like “Therefore” or “Since”. They are turning point, hinge words. And do you see the word which stands between the condemnation of verse 3 and the hope of verse 4? “BUT”. There it is…big, bold, and beautiful… “BUT BECAUSE” Have you noticed hinge words can’t stand alone? Like a bridge they connect two very important but different things.
There’s no way out of the despair of verse three without some dramatic, powerful hope… “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 our transgressions…it is by GRACE you have been SAVED!” (rescued from certain death) (Eph. 2:4,5)
Wow, do you see the magnificent miracles? God’s LOVE motivates Him to action / God’s MERCY restrains Him from justice wrath / God’s Son, Jesus, is resurrected and victorious over sin, Satan and death. As a LIVING, all powerful DELIVERER, Jesus can be our redeemer, our rescuer, our deliverer, and ONLY Jesus because He went all the way to death for us and God raised Him to new life, never to die again! Now in His victorious reign, He can save any and all who are still dead in their sin! A dead Savior can’t save anyone. A living, all powerful Savior can save anyone who wants to be saved and is willing for the Deliverer to save them!
Oh my…time to hit the pause button and take that in, breathe deeply, let it overwhelm you! And do you see…all this is GRACE! God’s great kindness extended to people like you and me, dead, hopeless in their slavery to sin!
BUT…there’s more! “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.” (Eph. 2:6,7) What does it mean? Well friends, where is Jesus Christ right now? Hebrews 1:3; Romans 8:34; Eph. 1:20 all tell us the risen Jesus Christ is seated in authority at the right hand of Almighty God the Father. But you and I are here, not there? This phrase is not a literal physical placement, but rather a relational placement.
Because of our salvation, we are sons and daughters of God, still living our lives here on earth, but destined to be with Him in heaven as soon as we die. However, our place in heaven is certain, secure and reserved for us…just as sure as if we were already there now. And we have access into God’s throne room in prayer & worship anytime, even though our bodies are still here on earth. Till we get there, Jesus represents us there!
Soon, we’ll be there, in our glorified bodies, for all eternity! In those future days, the coming ages, when we are there, God’s incomparable grace will be tangibly seen. We and all Christians of all time, redeemed by Jesus’ atonement death and victorious resurrection will be there in heaven with Jesus, but Satan and all his demons whom opposed Jesus, and every living person of all time who has rejected Jesus or not trusted their lives to Him, will be far away, separated from God, in a place prepared for them, called hell. A place we ALL deserve to spend eternity, except for God’s Grace!!
Verse 8, of course, is that hallmark verse that summarizes all this and makes sure we understand we can take no credit for any of it! “For by GRACE you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so no man can boast!” It must be entirely God saving those dead in their sin. We can do NOTHING, absolutely nothing to add anything to what Jesus has accomplished.
It is entirely a rescue work of God! All we do is acknowledge our sin…yes it’s true God, I am a dying sinner and can’t help myself. We then repent, we turn from our self reliance, and we turn to Jesus, and we trust FULLY and ONLY in Him, and His fully accomplished death and resurrection on our behalf. And God does ALL the saving work…all of it! We receive it, we are changed by God. We do NOTHING to earn it, nor do we do anything to help Him accomplish it! And then what? We, saved from our dead in sin condition, don’t just lay on the sand for the rest of our lives…oh no, God has purpose for us, all of us, each of us. Listen to verse 10 “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Free from our sin we are now available for God to work in us, as He refines us, and then God works THROUGH us, as He involves us in His great purposes, around the world. Remember Paul says we actually are “Therefore new creations in Christ, the old is gone and the new has come… we are Ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal [to the world] through us.” (2 Cor. 5:17,20)
Now that my friends, is the greatest new of all time! From dead to alive. From meaningless existence to Ambassador of Jesus Christ! Now if that doesn’t overwhelm you, check your pulse, someone may need to call a funeral director for you! Time to respond. . .you and Jesus, you and your heavenly Father, you and the Holy Spirit, who is speaking to your mind and heart right now. . .God is waiting to hear our response! What will we say to God right now. . .
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
Archived back issues of “Walking with Jesus” and other resources are available by clicking here to open our ‘home page’ (or go to HOME at upper right of this page).
Share with friends. Subscribe below for daily “Walking with Jesus”.