Dead But Now Alive
Ephesians 2: 1-5
Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of the Christ, the biblical account of the last hours of Christ’s earthly life. Some claim it was too violent and graphic. Some claimed it was anti-Semitic, though the producer filmed his own hand nailing Jesus to the cross because he said that he and all living are equally guilty in Jesus’ death.
There was a letter to the editor in the paper from a woman in named Madeleine Evans. After viewing the movie she wrote, “Personally, I have no problem believing what Jesus did, but I want no responsibility for it. I will pay for my own sins (I usually do), thank you very much. I would never want anyone to go through so much suffering for me.”
Madeleine sadly did not understand the depths of her own sin if she thought she could in any way pay for her own sin. Now, we may be able to work on our sin, make some things right where sin has made things wrong. But to pay for our own sin to the point that God will accept our efforts is an idea foreign to the Bible.
We need to understand how God views our sin, not how we view it. Poor Madeleine, when she said, “I would never want anyone to go through so much suffering for me,” didn’t realize that for her well being all kinds of people might have to suffer. For her protection in the community, the police can suffer. For her protection in the world, the military can suffer. Even for her garbage to be disposed of the guy throwing her rotting disposables away has to suffer through the smell.
She may have thought she was being independent and thoughtful but she obviously has not made the effort to find out what God thinks.
As we move into Ephesians chapter 2 we are going to find out how God views people who have not come into Christ. This is not flattering, this is not ego building but it is the truth.
When we realize how God’s views us - outside of Christ, then we begin to understand how far reaching is His grace and how terrible is our sin. We always tend to over estimate our goodness, which in itself is a symptom of our sin.
The very first verse of chapter 2 describes our flawed condition. Eph 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Trespasses: (transgressions NIV) a false step, involving either the crossing of a known boundary or a deviation from the right path; a slip or a fall.
Sins: missing of the mark, falling short of a standard, like an arrow falling short of an intended target. Also it is knowing the right thing to do and not doing it. (James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.)
Before we accept Christ, God views all humanity as rebellious, self-centered and horribly flawed. As a result unbelievers are spiritually dead. Now they may look alive. They may even seem to live lives that are prosperous, envious, full, fun and fantastic but spiritually they are the walking dead – spiritual zombies.
They are blind to the glory of Jesus. They are deaf to the Holy Spirit. They are enemies of God. They are rejecters of the Bible. They are as unresponsive to God as a corpse is to music, which is sometime the appearance of God’s people when we sing!
Paul continues to describe the SZL – Spiritual Zombie Life!
Eph 2:2,3 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
These two verse sum up the things that we battle against.
The World, The Devil and The Fleshly Mind.
Let me briefly describe these three areas on the arena of battle.
1. The World - This is any and every part of society that is organized without reference to God. We may describe it as Secularism, Materialism, humanism, hedenism and other “isms” that can lead people from God. This may be a philosophy of life, another religion, politics or policies that reject Biblical principles. Every aspect of these “isms” my not be evil, but their overall influence tends to be different and in the opposite direction of God. This can even involve cherished things like capitalism and traditions that get connected with Biblical Christianity.
2. The Devil – It may be NOT be fashionable today to believe in a personal devil or connected demonic influence under his command but it is taught in the Bible. If there is no devil, then Jesus had mental problems, for Jesus conversed with Satan and demons. They are as real as God.
Picture it: rural area, Sunday morning, church is packed and the devil decides to pay a visit.
The doors burst open, and a rolling black cloud drift in with the devil in its midst. People jump out of the pews and run outdoors, screaming - all except for two. One is the Pastor, the other is an elderly farmer.
Satan is a bit perplexed. He points to the Pastor and says, "You! I can understand why you didn't run away, you preach against me all the time. But YOU (points to the farmer), why didn't you run out scared like everyone else?"
The farmer crosses one leg over the other and drawls, "Why, I'm surprised you don't recognize me...I've been married to your sister for 36 years!"
You probably heard that one so let me try one more.
A guy from Atlanta, Georgia dies and goes to hell. While down there the Devil notices that the he is not suffering like the rest. He checks the gauges and sees that it's 90 degrees and about 80% humidity. So he goes over to the and asks why he's so happy. The Georgian says, "I like it here. The temperature is just like Ga in June.
The Devil isn't happy with the answer, he turns up the temperature to 100 degrees and the humidity to 90%. The devil finds the guy from Atlanta standing around unbuttoning his shirt, just as happy as can be. The guy says,"This is even better. It's like Ga in July."
The Devil, now upset, decides to really make things tough. He turns the heat up to 120 degrees and the humidity to 100%. He find the man taking his shirt off, even happier than before. The Devil can't figure it out. He hears"This is great, it's just like Ga in August".
The Devil says, "That's it, I'll get this guy." The devil comes up with a new plan. He goes over and turns the temperature down to a freezing 25 degrees. "Let's see what the Ga redneck has to say about this. "The Devil looks around and finds the guy jumping up and down for joy yelling, "Either THE BRAVES HAVE FINALLY WON THE WORLD SERIES!" or the Hawks are in the Super Bowl Let us move to the third aspect of spiritual struggle.
3. The Flesh - Both the world and the devil can exert influence on us but submission to that influence is in the area of our flesh. The flesh is not our physical body but our fallen, self-centered human nature. Deeds of the flesh are described by Paul in Gal.5:19-21.
Gal 5:19-21 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
21envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Although as Christians we are set free from the eternal consequences of the World, the Devil and the Flesh, we are not beyond its influence. We can be made ineffective by these temptations. Our lives can still be wrecked by the power and draw of these pressures.
There is good news and it comes in the next verses.
Eph 2: 4, 5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved,
There are no better words that could reach your ears than these. (classrooms)
There is a good story that illustrates the concept of grace written by Charles Stanley. In his description he says “One of my more memorable seminary professors had a practical way of illustrating to his students the concept of grace. At the end of his evangelism course he would distribute the exam with the caution to read it all the way through before beginning to answer it. This caution was written on the exam as well. As we read the test, it became unquestionably clear to each of us that we had not studied nearly enough. The further we read, the worse it became. About halfway through, audible groans could be heard through out the lecture hall. On the last page, however, was a note that read, "You have a choice. You can either complete the exam as given or sign your name at the bottom and in so doing receive an A for this assignment." Wow? We sat there stunned. "Was he serious? Just sign it and get an A?" Slowly, the point dawned on us, and one by one we turned in our tests and silently filed out of the room.
“When I talked with the professor about it afterward, he shared some of the reactions he had received through the years. Some students began to take the exam without reading it all the way through, and they would sweat it out for the entire two hours of class time before reaching the last page. Others read the first two pages, became angry, turned the test in blank, and stormed out of the room without signing it. They never realized what was available, and as a result, they lost out totally. One fellow, however, read the entire test, including the note at the end, but decided to take the exam anyway. He did not want any gifts; he wanted to earn his grade. And he did. He made a C+, but he could easily have had an A.”
This story illustrates many people’s reaction to God’s solution to sin. Some people look at God’s standard--moral and ethical perfection--and throw their hands up in surrender. Why even try? They tell themselves. I could never live up to all that stuff. Others are like the student who read the test through and was aware of the professor’s offer but took the test anyway. Unwilling to simply receive God’s gift of forgiveness, they set about to rack up enough points with God to earn it. But God’s grace truly is like the professor’s offer.
It may seem unbelievable, but if we accept it, then, like the stunned students who accepted the professor’s offer, we, too, will discover that, Yes, God’s grace truly is free. All we have to do is accept it.
Richard Vartenisian
power point available
Rvarten@aol.com
