A thirty-four-year-old German woman named Anna Rosmus recently told the tragic story of what happened in her hometown in Germany during World War II. Speaking at Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, she told of growing up in Passau, Germany, years after the war. As a teenager, she wrote a school essay about the postcard beauty of her hometown. The town is located near the Austrian border in Bavaria. The essay won her a national award.
The following year, on a similar school project, Anna decided to write about her hometown during World War II. She wanted to write about the stories she had heard about how bravely her town resisted the Nazis, fought against them, and rejected the political machine of Hitler.
What she discovered shocked her and the world. She found in old newspaper clippings that not only did many people in her town sympathize with the Nazis,
but they actively worked and collaborated with them.
She later found that eight slave labor camps were begun in and around her hometown. The camps were used by the Nazis to work Jewish prisoners to death.
Instead of using gas, the Nazis killed thousands by working and starving them.
Prisoners were forced to dig their own graves.
Then she learned something even more horrible. As American soldiers were entering her town on May 2, 1945, many of the townspeople were pouring gasoline on defenseless Russian Jews, strapping them to railroad tracks, and setting them on fire.
What were the churches doing during this time? Anna Rosmus stated that the swastika was on daily display in the churches in her town. The churches obeyed and supported the Nazi movement because of the biblical teaching that all authority is given from God and must be obeyed (Romans 13:1-2).
By wrapping itself in the German flag, the church lost its prophetic voice and its soul. It failed to read Revelation 13, which exhorts believers to resist governments which become evil and satanic. Civil religion .... the marriage of church and state .... always makes the church a loser.
Because Anna Rosmus found and told this story, she has been treated with contempt in her native land. She has been knocked down in restaurants. She has even received numerous death threats.
Like Anna Rosmus, we have a story to tell. Even churches have a testimony to share. Do we share it?
The testimony of the Ephesian congregation is given in Ephesians 2:1-10.
It is divided into three parts: Past, present, and future.
Let's examine each.
First, the Ephesians had a testimony about...
Their Past
Paul begins by describing the pre-Christian condition of the people:
"And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world ..." (2:1-2). "You" is plural, thus referring to the church.
Living under the sentence of death
Before they became Christians, the Ephesians lived under the sentence of death.
Now, don't misunderstand. This was not a death imposed by natural calamity,
such as a devastating flood or a horrible earthquake. It was a self-imposed spiritual death. Paul stated that their trespasses and sins caused their spiritual death.
The word "trespasses" literally means to fall beside. It refers to a lapse or deviation from truth, a departure from God's straight and narrow path.
The word "sins" means to miss the mark or target. Sin means failing to make life what it is capable of becoming under God.
The point is that the Ephesians' condition of death was self-imposed. They willfully and actively made their own sinful choices and determined their own pagan lifestyle. Not Adam's sin, nor their parents' sin, but their own personal sin produced the sentence of death.
Living under the authority of evil
In the lifestyle they chose, they were following the course or age of the world.
Paul adds, that they were following "the prince of the power of the air" (2:2).
This title is one of twelve titles ascribed to the devil in the New Testament.
Either we serve God or we serve Satan. There is no middle ground. We must make a choice. Like us, the Ephesians made a choice ... the wrong one.
Living under the wrath of God
Paul noted that the Ephesians were "by nature children of wrath" (2:3). This does not refer to the biological transmission of sin. Sin is not transmitted through the genes. Sin is an act of the human will. We choose to do the evil and not the good. Granted, we may grow up with certain family prejudices, false values, immoral attitudes, and selfish goals. But the decision to commit and to perpetuate them is a personal choice. And it becomes sin.
Paul declares that this condition is true not only for the Gentiles of that day, but for "all of us" (2:3). We all shared in the human condition prior to our Christian conversion.
God's wrath is not divine anger that erupts intemperately on evil people, perhaps striking them dead if the offense warrants it. Rather, wrath is God's relentless opposition to evil. But more, it is God's delivering a person over to his or her own tragic choices.
As Dr. Frank Stagg stated, "When one rejects the light he does not put out the light; he puts out his own eyes. This is the wrath of God against ungodliness and iniquity. It is the outworking of sin in the life separated from God."
Choosing to live according to what Paul calls "the desires of the flesh" (2:3) is an expression of our unregenerate human nature. As Paul uses the word "flesh," it does not mean the human body. God gave us a body. And it is good.
Rather, flesh refers to our self-centered impulses and urges.
My son, Kevin and I have learned that just because there is something in the refrigerator that is edible, we must be very careful that it has not been prepared for something else. There are certain dishes that always appear to be for company. And many is the time in earlier days, before we were trained,
that we would indulge ourselves, we would succumb to temptation, only to find out later, that a particular dish was prepared to be given away.
Surrendering to our selfish impulses and appetites is the essence of sin, according to Paul. When we are confronted with choices and choose less than what God desires, then it is sin. And we are responsible.
That's the past-tense story of the Ephesian churches. Consider now Paul's account of their present testimony.
Their Present
The human condition described in the first three verses deserved death. It represented human depravity at its worst.
Divine intervention
Two words made a difference in the Ephesians' situation "But God..." (2:4).
God must be reckoned with. He does not idly sit by and let His world go to pot.
He acts, takes the initiative, and appeals to the sinner through divine love.
The world, like the Titanic, was sinking fast, but God stepped forward. The world, quivering like a giant skyscraper hit by a massive earthquake, was on the verge of collapsing, but God stepped forward. The world, facing unprecedented darkness and despair, was doomed to spiritual defeat, but God stepped forward.
What did God do?
He provided.....
New life for the old
1. God made us alive with Christ.
Even while we were dead in our sins, God reached out to the world. Why?
Because He is rich in mercy. He possesses a great, unfathomable love for us.
He does not wish to see His crown creation go up in smoke.
Against the dark, ominous cloud of verse 1-3 shines the radiant love and grace of a God who refuses to give up on His creation.
The life that God gives is not merely physical life.
Rather, it is the abundant life that God provides through faith in Him.
2. God raised us up with Christ.
Christ was gripped by physical death, but God reached down, broke the lethal vice, and set Him free in the resurrection. We were bound by sin and spiritual death, but God in redeeming love snapped the chains and set us free, too.
3. God seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.
Believers are set free from the earthy sphere (2:2). They now belong to that invisible, spiritual realm to which Christ Himself belongs. Thus, the "heavenly places" (2:6) refers to the new reality in which the believer lives. This new reality transcends the world we see.
The fascinating truth is that God does for Christians what He has already done for Christ (see 1:20). While there is only one historical bodily resurrection of Jesus, there are repeated spiritual resurrections witnessed through Christian conversion.
We must not overlook that in all three initiatives of God, whereby we are made alive, raised up, and made to sit "in the heavenly places," we don't do it alone. We do it with Christ. Too, we do it with our fellow Christians, the church. The references in 2:4-6 are plural, not singular.
We who were dead, God made alive, raised up, and made to sit in the heavenly places.
Spiritual resurrection or Christian conversion is not a lone ranger experience, isolated from the church. Rather, conversion is a shared experience with Christ and a shared experience with the church.
In the televised movie Fighting for My Daughter, a fifteen-year-old girl has conflict with her single-parent mother. The girl constantly breaks the rules of her curfew. A court eventually places he on probation.
Then the girl is lured into the underworld of prostitution. A pimp takes control of her, promises a life of glamour, and brainwashes her. Her life is to be spent on the street.
But the mother is unwilling to forfeit her daughter. She goes searching for the young girl, hoping that someone will help her. But the mother fails.
Not to be outdone, the mother then dresses up like a prostitute and hangs out on the street, hoping to spot her daughter. In a surprise police raid, the mother goes to jail. But her own aged mother bails her out.
Still, the mother refuses to give up. She receives a tip, sits in a parked car for hours, and finally spots her daughter and her pimp entering a motel. Using a fire extinguisher, the mother bursts into the room, surprising the two. She asks her daughter to return home with her.
The brainwashed youth refuses. Realizing that the teenager is breaking a court-approved curfew even as they speak, the mother has her daughter taken into custody. The daughter is jailed.
The fifteen-year-old has a choice: stay in jail or agree to a program of rehabilitation. She chooses the latter. After a while, she is de-programmed and restored to her normal self. She returns to school and becomes a well-adjusted student.
It's a true story. And it provides us clues into the initiative of God as He embodies Himself in Jesus to seek to and to save the lost. He refused to give up.
Now, let's look at the future testimony of the Ephesian churches.
The Future
God has acted in grace toward us so that we might have a future. Apart from divine grace, we faced only the winter of God's judgment. Paul says that God reached out to us so that we can have a bright future (2:7).
As Christians, what have we been called to be and do?
Our lifestyle should be marked by at least three traits.
We are called to:
Demonstrate the effectiveness of grace
God wishes to "...show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" (2:7).
How does God display or exhibit His grace to the world?
Do you visit a museum to see it?
Do you look into an infinite sky to see it?
Do you dial a certain 800 number to learn it?
No, God's grace is to be revealed in us. As believers, we are God's trophy of grace. If we have believed in Jesus, then we have experienced God's grace. And we have been called to live out the grace of God.
Often, our trophy of grace tarnishes like unused silverware. When this happens, we need to clean up our life so that life of grace may be seen.
It was said of Jesus that He was marked by grace and truth (John 1:17b). No less should be said about us. We are to exhibit grace and express grace in our relationships. Then the world will know of God's immeasurable wealth. Next, we are called to:
Demonstrate God's redemptive work in us
As God reaches out to us in grace, we are called to respond in faith. When grace and faith intersect, then salvation is experienced. God does a creative work in us. Our sins are forgiven and we are made new people in Christ.
As Paul expressed it, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Go; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (2:8-9). These verses are popular with us Baptists. It's important to note that the pronouns "you" and "your" are plural, not singular. Since these personal pronouns are plural, we see that Paul is thinking corporately. He is not thinking of simply the individual's salvation experience. He is thinking of God's action in Christ for all persons.
As Christians, we have been redeemed by grace. We need to live like redeemed people.
Finally, we are called to:
Demonstrate a quality of work for God
Why are we saved?
Paul pointed out, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works..." (2:10).
Good works are not a condition for salvation. Such a condition would negate the meaning of grace. Rather, good works are a consequence of salvation. Out of gratitude for what God has done for us and in us, we are motivated to serve Him.
And it should be work of the highest quality that we can produce.
Think About This
So what's your testimony?
What are you doing for God?
Many years ago at a Presbyterian retreat center near Asheville, NC, the annual summer conference was being held. An elderly man with a neatly clipped white goatee and resonant voice rose to speak. He explained that he was a medical doctor and he had a story to tell. He told how during the Civil War he had ridden horseback through the Cumberland Mountains on his way to join the Confederate Army. Since there were so few inns in the area, the mountain people took him into their humble mountain cabin to stay for the night. He had become impressed with their hospitality and intelligence even though they were poor.
Years later when he was a successful doctor in Arkansas, he had become desperately ill with scarlet fever. He vowed that if he lived he would return to the Appalachians and help the people. He had sacrificed his fine medical practice to start mission work in Arkansas, Kentucky, and finally the Great Smokies. Here, he had met Miss Alice Henderson, a Quaker from Ardmore, PA.
She shared his mission of helping the mountain people. She had started three schools, including the Cutter Gap school. But she needed help. With great passion he urged the group, "These highlanders are your countrymen, your neighbors. Will you hear and help?"
As the group stood to sing "Just As I Am" the heart of a young lady was stirred deeply. She went forward, gripped the speaker's hand, looked him in the eyes, and said,
"You asked for volunteers. You are looking at one."
"And for what do you volunteer, my child?"
"For the highlanders. I could teach, anywhere you want to use me."
"Are you sure, child?"
"Quite sure."
So, nineteen-year-old Christy Huddleston left her comfortable and affluent home in Asheville to teach at the Cutter Gap Mission school in the Smoky Mountains.
Upon arriving, she was greeted by Miss Alice Henderson, the school's head. She asked Christy why she had come. Christy replied, "I want my life to count for something."
And it did. She endured the rugged and rigorous mountain life to teach boys and girls to have a better way of life. They were changed. In the process, she was changed, too. She discovered joy and satisfaction in helping others.
