It's A Love Thing

“It’s a Love Thing”

Ephesians 2:1-7

The book of Ephesians is described as the most profound book in the Bible. It is the only Pauline epistle that has nothing to do directly concerning the church of Ephesus, but is concerned with dealings that affect all Christians. He starts outside the parameters of time, for in chapter 1 verse 4 he writes “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” He enters into time and makes some wonderful statements about God. He focuses a great deal on “What God has done”, “What God will do”, and “What God is going to do”. He writes with such clarity that one with just a minute amount of trust in God is able to understand that unless God does it, it can’t be done. Consequently if God does it there is nothing or no-body that can stop it, not even the one whom it is being done to. We try to make God into some kind of puny pocket power that is limited to only doing what we say he can or allow him to do. God is never held hostage to the boundaries of a humanistic mind-set. God transcends all boundaries, God is omnipotent, God is sovereign he does what he wants when he wants to whom he wants the way he wants and there is nothing we can do about it. In other words since God is doing it all by himself, without any help from you or I we cannot say that this is not the way it is supposed to be all we have to do it receive our blessings. My blessings are all ready there and He didn’t have to wait for me to get there to make it. God already has your blessings ready, He have to wait for you to come to him to get it ready, He already has done that, it’s just a matter of timing to put it into your hands. “Look at someone and say God is getting ready to bless me and there is nothing you can do about it WHY, because it’s my time.”

In Verse #1 we read “And you hath He quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The word dead describes a condition that is so far from God that there is nothing that you or I could have contributed to getting back to God or being what God would have us be, we were dead. Understand that a dead man doesn’t know he is dead, he can’t say anything about being buried, he can’t contribute anything to coming back to life, he is dead, lifeless, numb to any sensations, unresponsive, no longer active or functioning, He is dead. What we regarded as being alive in time past we now realize that it was not living at all.

Verse #2 & #3 simply described the things we did in our trespasses and sins. Verse 2 “Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world…..” In other words whatever the world, the things and people that influenced us, thought was cool, hip, and fun we did, often times without limitations….. “according to the power of the air…..” what we thought was fun and exciting was just an illusion created by the devil, and we often found out after it was to late, that what we saw was not what we got. Verse 3 says “Among whom also we all….” We all not just some of us but we all, that’s you, you, you, and me. “Had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind…” in other words we operated out the lust of our flesh and out of the need to satisfy any pleasurable imagination that came through our mind. Regardless of the limitations you had or did not have, we all were dead in trespasses and sins.

Verse #4 “But God…” Hear the writer Paul introduces God’s attitude on the other side of what we were when we were dead in trespasses and sins. After all that we have done, after all the mess we were in, after becoming a filthy, stinking, putrid being, after being used, abused, mistreated, violated, emasculated, and raped by the devil Paul says “BUT GOD”. He didn’t say that you came to your senses, He didn’t say after you got tired of doing the stuff you were doing, He didn’t say you said that you were going to find God. He states just how messed up we were and points out the fact “BUT GOD” Not of any goodness of my own, not because I am so great, not for any other reason BUT GOD. “…who is rich in mercy…” This is very important because it declares a very important fact about God. Rich means possessing great wealth, having an abundance of. Mercy is compassion shown to an offender. “…for His great love wherewith He loved us.”