Amazing Grace
Ephesians 2:1-9
Somewhere between 10 and 15 million people were taken from their homes and surroundings, placed on ships, chained together, and transported to a place they had never been where they would serve as slaves. During this passage, the conditions were too inhumane to discuss in this setting. Those who died during the journey were often thrown overboard. Even worse, many who got sick during the passage were thrown overboard while still alive.
In addition, approximately 10 million people died on the trip from their home to the coast where they were to be put on a ship.
It is one of the darkest realities of human history that people were once seen as commodities and treated with no more respect and decency than animals, and often with even less. The clips you just saw are from the movie that was released this weekend called Amazing Grace. It is the story of William Wilberforce’s campaign to end the slave trade in Britain.
It’s called Amazing Grace because Wilberforce was friends with John Newton, a pastor who wrote the hymn “Amazing Grace.” Wilberforce thought of Newton almost as a parent. You probably know at least some of the words to the hymn “Amazing Grace.” “Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
John Newton experienced several changes or transformations in his life that led him to write that hymn. I’ll say more about him in the next few weeks. Today, I just want to talk about this word “grace” and what makes it so amazing. We use the word “grace” often in our conversations. We talk about saying “grace” before we eat. We talk about certain people having “grace.” When someone trips we say, “Nice going Grace.” We name our children “Grace.” My youngest child’s middle name is Grace.
But what is God’s grace? What is this “Amazing Grace”? The clearest place to find an explanation of God’s grace is in Ephesians 2. Ephesians is in the middle of the New Testament. There are 4 small books that come after I and II Corinthians: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians. Find Ephesians chapter 2.
Paul wrote all 4 of these letters, and to be short letters they are filled with incredible insight about Christ, about God, and about the Christian life. In the first chapter of Ephesians, Paul talks about many of the wonderful things that we have because of Christ. He writes, “In him we have redemption through is blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” Ephesians 1:7-8
We have been given these wonderful gifts because of Christ. We live in the wonderful and mysterious realm of God’s grace. But when Paul gets to chapter 2, we have a flashback. Paul reminds us what our life is like without God and without Christ. Look in your Bible as I read this out loud. (1-3)
What does that mean? Well, we recognize evil in the life of someone who would buy and sell other people. If you would kidnap someone from their home, traffic them to another part of the world, treat them as if they were objects and not humans, and then enslave them as if they were your property, you have a serious problem with evil in your heart.
If you would fly an airplane into a building filled with thousands of innocent people, it’s easy to see that you have a serious problem with evil in your heart. If you would engineer the murder the 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, then it’s easy to see that your heart is filled with evil. If you would abuse children or murder or rape, we would all agree that there is something evil going on in your heart.
But Paul says that same evil is at work in all of our hearts. There is wickedness in every person’s heart. There is darkness in our souls. We can’t just point to slave traders or murderers or terrorists and say, “They’re the ones who have a problem with evil.” Paul says we all have a problem with evil. It is in us.
And I know some will make the argument, “Ken, aren’t you going a little over the top when you use the Hitler as an example? Aren’t you going a bit too far when you talk about terrorists? Yes, there are some really bad people in the world, but most people are good and decent and moral.”
Obviously, not everyone is a murder. Not everyone enslaves people. Not everyone commits vile acts, but Paul is saying the capacity for great evil lurks in the heart of every human being. In other places in the Bible, he even says that we are slaves to it. We, like Africans from past centuries are in chains: chained to passions and desires and ways of thinking that are deadly.
One writer says we are the “living dead.” We are the walking dead. Just like when a slave was captured and transported to a slave ship. He or she knew that their life was over. They were waiting to die. In the middle of the inhumane conditions and the heat and the smell and the death that was all around them, they too were nothing more than death waiting to happen.
It’s not a pretty picture, but Paul says, without Christ we are that way. Our lives are meaningless and hopeless. It’s interesting the way Paul shifts his use of pronouns in the first couple of verses of chapter 2. The first 2 verses he uses the pronoun “you.” “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…”
Then, in verse 3 he uses the pronouns “us” and “our.” “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.” Paul is getting really worked up telling his audience what THEY used to be like, and I think when he got to verse 3 he thought, “Wait a minute. I was just like that too.”
That happens to me when I’m preparing a message. I’ll think of things that I need to tell you and how I need to straighten you out and all the ways that your not doing it right, and then I realize, “I have these same problems.” So I’ll go back through the message and replace all of the places I wrote “you” and change it to “we.”
WE have this problem. It’s not just you. It’s not just me. It’s not just the worst of society. WE are living dead, meaningless lives without Christ. Now, it’s important to make the distinction that while Paul is saying that without Christ we are living meaningless, dead lives, he isn’t saying that we are worthless. We are each created in the image of God, and even though our sin has marred that image, we are still of significant worth as people created in His image.
So here we are, innately valued because of God’s image in us, and yet living meaningless, purposeless, dead lives when we come to verse 4. “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 there is that word: Grace. We are dead in our sins and in our separation from God. Then comes that great word “But…” Notice it doesn’t say, “But because I am such a great person…But because I have so much to offer…But because I have done so many good things in my life.” It doesn’t say any of that because Paul has already said my condition is one of death and meaninglessness.
It says, “But because of his great love for us.” This is the essence of grace, and it is truly amazing. I am able to exchange a life without meaning, a dead life, a life that is enslaved to my own passions and desires, enslaved to the darkness and selfishness that is inside of me…I can exchange that life for love and forgiveness and meaning and purpose, and I can do it because of God’s great love.
Grace communicates unequal position. One of greater position stoops down to show kindness to one of lower position. One with power lowers himself to offer help, mercy, love to one who is weak. It is not an equal exchange. The recipient of grace could never walk away thinking, “I deserved this goodness that has come into my life. I have worked hard for this, and it’s only right that I would be recognized and singled out for this particular honor.”
No, grace is an unearned gift in which the person with all of the power and all of the prestige shows kindness to the person with no power and no prestige just because. In our case it is just because of God’s great love.
Look at verse 6…7. God sets us free from the chains of sin. In spite of the fact that we were at one time living meaningless lives with no eternal significance, we were the living dead, God, out of His love, unlocks the chains, lifts us out of that life and gives us new life. We no longer have to be the walking dead spiritually. We can come alive to a whole new spiritual life.
That’s what Newton meant when he wrote “I once was lost but now I’m found was blind but now I see.” He recognized a time of darkness in his life, and into that darkness God’s light broke through because of God’s great love. We’ll talk about it in the weeks to come, but Newton was one of the worst offenders in the slave trade. He was a vile man, but God’s love was greater. His love for Newton was greater than the darkness of Newton’s heart.
One of the great lessons of John Newton’s life is that no one is beyond God’s grace. If God could bring this man out of darkness and into spiritual light, He can do it for anyone.
And God’s love for you is greater than the darkness inside of you. I know it’s not normal conversation today to speak about our brokenness. We don’t talk about the darkness of our souls. Instead we want to talk about how everyone is okay and everyone is basically good. But the Bible says what most of us already know, we’re in need of repair. We’re in need of light and life. We need to be brought to life.
I can tell that His love for you is greater than anything in your past. His love for you is greater than any mistake you’ve made. His love for you is greater than any sin you’ve committed. “Because of God’s great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ…” That’s grace.
How did He do that? How is that possible? William Wilberforce was not always passionate about the abolition of the slave trade. His grandfather was quite wealthy and involved in local politics, so Wilberforce grew up among the wealthy and elite. He was loved by everyone who met him. He was witty and charming and had a great singing voice.
After beginning his own political career and finding quite a bit of success in politics, his eyes were opened to the injustices of slavery and the slave trade. He saw things differently from those around him. He could not look at the Africans as property or people without feelings as so many of his contemporaries did. He could not turn away from the inhumane treatment of slaves. So, he stepped into the darkness.
He entered the battle at great risk to his own life and future, but he could not stand by while this injustice continued. So he gave his life to freeing those who were enslaved. After years of fighting, in March of 1807, the House of Commons voted to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire.
“Because of God’s great love,” He could not look at His creation as merely worthless, hopeless, beings with no future and no purpose. God could not see us chained to our desires, enslaved to the darkness and do nothing about it. So God came into the darkness in the form of a Son—a Son who was loved by all of heaven, a son who was surrounded by all of the wealth and beauty of heaven.
This Son, Jesus, grew up like everyone else. He was fully human, but He saw things differently. He saw people differently. He saw the oppressed and the downcast and the hurting and the diseased and the broken as people made in the image of God. He saw them not as they were, but as they could be with God’s grace.
And, knowing there was only one way that the brokenness of the people in the world could be mended, Jesus gave His all for our forgiveness. God’s justice demanded that someone pay for all of the sin in the world. Because God is just and righteous, He cannot just ignore our sin. He can’t pretend it didn’t happen. As much as He loves us, God’s holiness demands that there be payment for sin.
So, God placed that penalty on His Son. Again, not because we deserved it, not because we were good enough to earn it, not because we were moral people. God allowed His Son to be crucified “Because of His great love for us…” that’s grace.
Notice verse 8…9
“Saved” is a real “churchy” word. What are we saved from? We are saved from a meaningless, dead life. We are saved from the passions and desires and cravings that want to run and ruin our lives. We are saved from the evil and darkness that lurks within all of our hearts. And we are saved from the punishment that goes with our disobedience.
And, it’s not by our efforts that we’re saved. It’s not by our church attendance or our giving or our good deeds. It’s by grace through faith. Faith is the means by which God’s grace becomes effective in our lives. You could argue, “Well, if Jesus took the punishment for sins, then everybody should be okay. Everybody should be covered.” That’s not what the Bible says.
God’s grace has to become effective for me individually. God’s grace has to become effective for you individually. And God’s grace becomes effective for the person who puts their faith in Christ. Now, faith is kind of a tricky word because we usually define it according to the lowest common denominator. We equate faith with belief or agreement in the sense that I believe something or I agree that it’s true or probably true.
That’s not what faith is. Faith is not simply saying, “Okay, I believe Jesus came and died. Okay, I believe that Jesus is God’s Son. Okay, I don’t disagree with that.” That’s not faith. I read a definition this week that said faith in Christ is “solidarity with Christ.” I like that.
It is uniting with Christ. “Jesus, I’m united with you. Jesus, I agree with you. Jesus, if You’re for it, I’m for it. If You’re against it, I’m against it. If it’s what You want, then it’s what I want. Jesus I’m going to live for you from now on.” Faith is not a surface agreement, it is a deep, life altering commitment of all that I am to Christ and His plans for my life.
But we need to be clear that “grace” is about far more than just one moment in our lives. As wonderful and mysterious and spiritual as the moment we come into relationship with Christ is, that does not define the limit of grace in our lives. One of the reasons God’s grace is truly amazing is that it continues to transform our lives. It continues to work in our lives and strengthen our lives.
John Newton accurately captured this aspect of grace with the line “Thro’ many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come ‘tis grace hath brought me safe thus far and grace with lead me home.” Newton understood that God’s grace is a constant companion. God’s grace is a source of constant strength. Paul had a particular struggle in his life. He described it as a “thorn in the flesh.” Some think it was a physical limitation. Some think it was a particular temptation. No one knows for sure what it was.
He prayed and prayed and prayed again that it would be taken away. And, maybe you remember God’s response: “My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Cor. 12:7 Grace is how we come into relationship with God. Grace is how we continue to live out our relationship with God, and it is amazing.
We are such creatures of score and scales and payback that we can slip back into a graceless mentality. One of Paul’s greatest battles in his letters is against those who once they received God’s grace went right back to rules and measurements and prejudice and exclusion and you have to do it this way or you’re not doing it right.
That’s why in Galatians Paul writes, “It is for freedom Christ has set us free.” Galatians 5:1 Your chains are gone. You’re not a slave anymore, so don’t live like one.
If you are a Christ follower, today is a day to worship Him and thank Him that He set you free. Today is a day to glorify Him for rescuing you from yourself, from the darkness that could have ruled your life. He has set you free from the passions and desires that wanted to destroy you. He has set you free from the penalty and consequence of all of your sin. That is amazing.
If you have not declared your solidarity with Christ, don’t wait another day. You may not have thought about it before, you may not have admitted it before, but there is a storm raging inside your soul. You have the capacity for great good, but you also have the capacity for great evil. Don’t be enslaved to the evil that inside of you.
Receive the free gift of grace that God offers through the death of His Son. Put your faith today in Christ, and you will agree with the rest of us that His grace is truly amazing.
