As a little boy, I spent a lot of time with my dad. My father owned a taxis business and I was his constant companion. One of places we often went to was Reynosa, Mexico. This is a large border city not too far away from where we lived. Dad would go there to buy stuff or to go have lunch or supper.
One of those trips to Reynosa was absolutely memorable. I must’ve been three or four years old. Now listen, I don’t remember many things from when I was that age – but this event I can recall in great detail. I remember standing in the front seat with dad. Back then we knew nothing of child safety seats. He angle parked in front of a pharmacy. He told me to wait in the car – and that he would be right back. For some reason, minutes seemed like hours. So – at the advanced age of three or four years of age – I made a command decision. I got out of the car to go look for my dad in a large, busy city, in a foreign country. And I got thoroughly lost. I looked and looked – I called out for dad – and he was nowhere to be found. The sidewalk was full of people – but none of them was my father.
Before I knew it, I was crying my eyes out. People were asking me why I was crying and I told them that it was because I couldn’t find my papi. Finally a policeman came by. Apparently he decided to load me up in his police vehicle – it was sort of like a jeep or a scout – higher up off the ground than a regular car. I wasn’t about to let this guy take me anywhere. And even at three or four years of age I was already a pretty hefty kid. I was bawling and screaming bloody murder. So this poor policeman was trying to put me into his vehicle and I was fighting him more fiercely than any WWF wrestler ever could. I remember the poor guy tried to put me in his jeep two or three times and crying and kicking and screaming I kept clawing my way down. The scene was so outrageous that a crowd began to gather. And it was finally because of that commotion and that mess of people that my dad came over to see what was going on and found me in the middle of the whole thing.
Friends – I was so lost that had it not been for the grace of God, I might still be tangling with that poor police officer. There was no way for me to find dad on my own. I didn’t have either the sense or the ability to find my daddy. In fact, it was my father who found me that day. I was so lost – but dad found me and rescued me.
That situation in which I found myself as a young kid was tough. I couldn’t help myself - it took a rescue. Saint Paul tells us of another rescue – a rescue that all believers have gone through and which all of us needed. Let’s read about it:
[1] As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, [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. [3] 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. (NIV)
People living apart from God are described as being dead in transgressions. I think that we can agree that this at least sounds serious! Dead means a lot of stuff: not recognizing our condition; no capacity to grasp the gravity of the situation; what God says make no sense; No capacity to help ourselves; no life; no growth; no hope. Paul writes to the church at Corinth: For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing… The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 1.18a & 2.14)
In that condition, for a rescue to happen, the initiative has to come from elsewhere. There is no ability for one who is dead to help himself. Help has to come from outside. And the incredibly beautiful thing is that God is amazingly ready to come to us and offer all that He is and all that Jesus has done to rescue us. Let’s read the next few verses from our text:
[4] But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, [5] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. [6] And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, [7] 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. (NIV)
One day Jesus explained his mission on earth in the starkest of terms. He said that He had come to bring life to people who were dead! He told his followers: I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. (John 5.24-25)
Doug – not his real name – was a man who had been raised in a Christian home. He was a bright young man – but the Church had become something he couldn’t stomach. He chased happiness at the edge of the beach on surfboard. He anesthetized himself with drugs and alcohol. But life was empty – relationships shallow and his future bleak. Then Jesus did what He has done for all of us – He called Doug from the dead. The words of Psalm 42 came to life in Doug’s life: He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. You wouldn’t believe that the old Doug was even real if you met Doug today. He has a lovely Christian family. God opened the door for him to study for ministry and he is now a pastor. And he is one of the most successful mission planters in the LCMS. Jesus voice raised Doug from the dead.
Jesus rescues the dead - many dead – even those who haven’t died yet. Can you relate to that? I am one of those. You are too! And it happens in ways that are so simple and yet so amazing. He brings his love to us in the most simple of ways – ways that seem foolish to the world. Here – here as we speak of how much Christ has done for us. Here – here – as we pour water over a person joined to the words of Christ. Here – here – as we gather around the table to receive Christ’s body and blood.
It is all God’s work. There’s absolutely nothing that we could have done to rescue ourselves. He came to us when we were lost and oblivious to our condition. And so, think about it: if our rescue is completely a matter of God’s work – is it possible that any of us can take any credit? Is it possible for any of us to brag about how much we did to become citizens of the Kingdom of God? Let’s let Saint Paul answer the question for us:
[8] For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – [9] not by works, so that no one can boast. (NIV)
Listen, this is actually great news. I am glad that our rescue was completely God’s work for us, dear friends. You see, if our rescue - any of it depended on us – then we are at our mercy. We can become lost again as easily as a three or four year old child can wander from his father. But if it is God who has sought us out and rescued us – we are completely in the grip of his grace.
Ok – let’s go one step further: Why? For what have we been called into the Kingdom? What is the reason that God brought us into the wonderful light of Jesus Christ? Let’s read the last verse in our text:
[10] For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)
There’s stuff that God has prepared for us to do. [Talk about the vine and branch metaphor]. We are vines connected to Christ – bearing fruit for our God so that He may be glorified. God has rescued us in Christ to glorify Him by serving in his Kingdom. Listen – here are some things that you might want to consider as you look for ways to be Christ’s workmanship:
[Here, the preacher may list places / activities in the congregation and beyond where people may be able to serve]
God’s love for us in Christ is amazing – incredible. We’ve been rescued from sin, death and satan purely out of divine Fatherly goodness. We’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit and privileged to be people called by Christ’s name. Beloved - God has rescued us and He has made us Christ’s workmanship so that we may honor Him through good works. Amen!
