Message
Ephesians 2:1-10
Begin Well
10 days ago Wild Oats XI won the 2018 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
They also won in 2017 … sort of.
Wild Oats XI finished the 2017 race in one day, eight hours, 48 minutes and 50 seconds … which was nearly five hours faster than the previous record. However at the very start of the race Wild Oats XI nearly collided with the boat Comanche and Comanche was forced to make very significant evasive action to avoid collision. Comanche protested the actions of Wild Oats XI and the team was given a 1 hour penalty. Comanche had come into Hobart 26 minutes after Wild Oats XI. So they were declared the winner … and record holder.
If you are going to finish the race well, you need to begin well.
That truth applies in many aspects of life.
It particularly applies in our spiritual lives.
An eternal spiritual life only takes place when we begin well.
How do we know if we have begun well?
Let’s turn to Ephesians 2:1-10 (read)
What does this passage teach us about beginning well?
Beginning well means admitting that we are spiritually bankrupt.
Paul uses a number of very vivid descriptions to help us understand this reality.
You were dead in your transgressions and sin (Eph 2:1)
This is not the danger of death … like in Psalm 23 when the Psalmist goes through the valley of the shadow of death. This is complete death – the separation and alienation of the soul from God.
Our spiritual situation is nothing but a corpse which has been buried.
We cannot do anything in an of ourselves to revive it.
It is part of our spiritual bankruptcy.
You followed … the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Eph 2:2)
In 1982 the aerial flying formation team known as the Thunderbirds were practising in Nevada a flying formation. The routine was to fly as a diamond, do a loop, climb 2 kilometres and loop over again and fly towards the ground at 650 km/h. The planes were meant to level off at about 30m. However the lead plane malfunctioned with a jammed stabiliser and, because they were trained to follow their leader, the other planes did not break formation.
In that case it was a tragic accident. But we follow Satan no questions asked. And he deliberately is seeking to bring spiritual death. It is part of our spiritual bankruptcy.
You were gratifying the cravings of your sinful nature (Eph 2:3).
Not too long ago our daughter Amelia got a new Dachshund called Dot.
Dot has very short legs, but when there is food on the table, or the bench, or anywhere … Dot works out how to get it and eat it.
All of it.
She has eaten a whole bag of dog food … and a whole loaf of bread.
She just keeps gorging herself and doing everything … even the most impossible … to gratify an unending craving.
We do the same with our sinful nature. We gorge ourselves.
It is part of our spiritual bankruptcy.
Dead in transgressions. Following the Satanic ruler. Gratifying the sinful nature.
If we want to begin the race well we need to admit that we have a “spiritual bankruptcy” in our lives.
Admit there is nothing in us which is of any value to God that makes us in any way acceptable, or useful, or goodish, or able to meet even the minimum standard.
Which is not always easy to accept. Because there is a part of us that likes to be able to think that we have something of value to give … some sort of worth.
Surely we have some goodness.
Surely we make some sort of contribution to our salvation.
Surely God sees in us a spark … even a tiny spark … that is the beginning of something that God can fan into flame.
Surely …
… …
Well no.
In Philippians 3 Paul talks about his pre-conversion attributes.
Circumcised on the eighth day.
A Hebrew of Hebrews.
A Pharisee.
Don’t I have something?
But Paul then says …
I consider everything a loss … I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ.
Philippians 3:8
That word translated as “garbage” is very descriptive as it can also be translated as “human excrement”. Paul is literally saying, “When it comes to my achievements I consider it all to be a pile of human excrement”
Paul is declaring his spiritual bankruptcy.
When we don’t understand our spiritual bankruptcy we will always approach God in the wrong way. When it comes to our relationship with God we can’t have it based on our list of achievements. No matter how impressive we think that list is.
So here we are … coming to God with a list of our achievements – kind of like show and tell at kindergarten.
Here Lord, let me show you how good I am. Let me recite Bible verses for you.
And we give that to the Lord and He treats it as it deserves – He flushes it.
So we try another track and hold up our church attendance sheet.
And the Lord casts an eye over it and, without raising an eyebrow, flushes it as well.
What about my tithe percentage.
My parenting skills.
My hours of service in the kingdom.
The way I am held up as a good Christian.
My quality quiet time.
My theological degrees.
And we keep coming again and again – and patiently the Lord deals with it – He flushes it.
Until there is nothing left for us to show.
Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying don’t read your Bible and memories verses. Or not to come to church. Or journal. Or pray. Or serve. Or be a great witness. Or study theology.
What I am saying is that you can’t make these achievements the basis of your relationship with Jesus.
Because, if you do.
If you at any time get to a point where you base your relationship with God on achievements.
If you do that you are not beginning the spiritual race properly … because you have the wrong understanding of God.
You see …
Only a puny god could be brought with our tithes.
Only an egotistical god would be impressed with our pain.
Only a temperamental god could be satisfied by our sacrifices.
Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest bidder.
(Max Lucado Applause of Heaven pg.27)
The God of the Scripture is not this type of God.
Our God wants us to begin well. To understand the true nature of our condition.
We must be people who continue to strip away every false hope, every self-assured achievement, every misdirected ambition.
To have the emptiness of our souls exposed.
To only see the spiritually poverty.
To step back and make and make a race beginning assessment.
We … I … you … we are people who have nothing else to offer the Lord except for our sin, our guilt, our shame, and our failures.
We are deserving of nothing but wrath.
It is then, and only then, that we can begin the race properly.
Because it is at that point that God can bring us into the race.
But because of his great love for us
God made us alive with Christ.
God raised us up with Christ.
This is such an unexpected outcome.
Ordinarily we would think that the exposure of our spiritual bankruptcy would bring about God’s disgust. That He would just want to put us out of sight and turn our back.
We should cause Him to feel revulsion for us.
We expect to be cast aside.
Aren’t we objects of wrath?
We are objects of wrath … but we are also objects of love.
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Romans 5:8-10
Do you see what is happening here?
Our worst brings out from God mercy … love … forgiveness … redemption … renewal … reconciliation … salvation.
It happens because, as we see our spiritual bankruptcy, we get out of the way.
Indeed it is our spiritual bankruptcy that enables us to see ourselves the same way that God sees us.
We are not people who have it all together.
We are lost, because we did not follow the path set out by God.
We come to the table with nothing.
We are not people who are worthy in and of ourselves.
We are enemies, because we turned away and made ourselves kings and queens.
We have no bargaining power.
We are not people who have a built up account of goodness and virtue.
We can’t buy our way out of trouble.
We have nothing that God wants.
We are unholy, because we trashed the blessing God was willing to give.
We are sinners who stand before a God who requires justice.
There is no-one righteous … we have a tendency to go through the wide gate.
That is what spiritual bankruptcy enables us to see.
SO WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE US?
It leaves us totally relying on the only One who can save us from the wrath … and that One is Jesus.
And that is how it has to be for anyone who wants to avoid being a wreck and gain the applause of God. We need to step back, so that Jesus can step forward.
Jesus steps forward to take your sin – the sin that can keep you eternally separated from God – and He buries it forever.
Jesus steps forward to take your guilt – guilt which can stop you from looking to the future with hope – and He forgives it forever.
Jesus steps forward to take your shame – the shame which you carry because you know you have hurt God – and He turns it into confidence forever.
Jesus steps forward to take your failures – failures which keep coming up like large potholes in the road – and He covers them out of sight forever.
In our spiritual bankruptcy we realise that we have nothing except faith.
A belief that even though I deserve nothing in Christ I will be given everything I need for this life and the next.
A gift from God where God opens our eyes to the reality that we come to the Lord with empty hands
… with nothing to offer.
… and then God puts us into the race because through the death of Jesus “It is finished.”
Sometimes people describe this situation as “The Great Exchange”
Jesus offering to take on the wrath … so He is the object of wrath and not you.
That is what the cross is all about.
Jesus coming to take our place as an object of wrath. And the moment when He confirmed His willingness to make the exchange was the moment when He called out My God. My God. Why have You forsaken Me?
Why are You turning your back?
Why are You ignoring My pleas?
The Jews … they have unjustly punished Me … why?
The Romans … they know I am innocent yet You allow them to mock Me.
I’m covered in blood … don’t You care?
I’m pinned to cross with nails … does that seem right?
My God … I am Your Son … and You have sacrificed Me.
But heaven was silent. And Jesus died.
But for the great exchange to take place this is how it had to be. God didn’t want us to be useless – He wanted us to be worthy. A worthiness based on the willingness of Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for our sin.
This is grace … a plan of salvation which enabled God to call us His own.
This is grace … the providing of a Saviour.
And by His wounds … are we just tolerated? No … by His wounds we are healed.
By His wounds we begin the race … properly.
Dead in transgression and sin … has been exchanged to being alive with Christ.
Following the ruler of the kingdom of the air … has been exchanged for being seated in the heavenly realms.
Gratifying the desires of the sinful nature … has been exchanged for doing the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Begin the race properly by being certain … 100% certain … that you have confessed your spiritual bankruptcy to Jesus.
Prayer
