Prayer-
Introduction-
One of my favorite books of the Bible is the Book of Ephesians. The reason is that the book of Ephesians lets us see how important we are to God.
Chapter one tells us that as believers we are sealed with the approval of God and that the Holy Spirit of God wants to dwell within us.
Chapter two, we get a close look at Apostle Paul’s description of a person who is spiritually dead and the great cost that God has gone to make us spiritually alive.
My question to you this morning is do you want to be spiritually alive in Christ or spiritually dead in yourself?
Paul calls God’s people faithful!
He offers up a prayer of Grace and peace and points them back to Jesus.
He reminds them that every spiritual blessing you will ever have or will ever get comes from Jesus Christ.
Jesus chose by going to the cross a plan of redemption for us.
In Him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of his grace.
He tells us that we can have wisdom and knowledge, we can know the mystery of his will, and we can find purpose for our lives.
Check this out- Ephesians 1:11-14
“In him you were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you were also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession- to the praise of his glory.”
Don’t race through that passage-
We were in need of a savior and Jesus said yes to the Father to be that savior-
Jesus said that he would work it all out- I will be that redemption that is needed.
We (Jews) who were the first to believe and put their hope in Christ, to lift up the name of Jesus as Lord and savior. We are excited that the gracious God of peace extended that plan of salvation to the Gentiles also.
Those In Christ
(13) “And you were also included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit.”
Don’t get hung up on some words! “Predestined” and “chosen’.
North American churches have a different meaning for these words than in the original Greek.
Predestined- in the Greek means “pre- before” It means that God’s prior decision was that his children through adoption to the family of God through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles would have an opportunity to be saved by the power of Christ at the Cross.
Paul’s first readers may not have realized the depth of what that means, but we should because it was God’s prior decision to include us to experience Christ and his salvation.
The word Chosen translates to mean “inheritance”
Most consider redemption on a human plain- “what must I do”!
Paul wants to shift that focus onto God’s plan that included both Jew and Gentiles- which is all of us. All believers in Christ- those who have put their hope in Jesus shall inherit what God intended them to have.
In Christ we have been chosen to inherit the inheritance intended for God’s people (That should get your praise on this morning!
Paul prays for the saints at Ephesus (and all future believers) - he is happy that they have been given the glorious opportunity to inherit the kingdom of God by believing in the power and work of the resurrected Christ. He says that the same power that resurrected Christ Is the same power that dwells in us as believers. He is who makes us alive in Christ or dead in our own sins.
Let’s look as Paul pulls the trigger on this passage-
Ephesians 2:1-10 Read from Bible
He makes a clear distinction of who you were before Christ and who you should be after you accept Christ.
You were dead in your sins (offense against God) and transgressions (an act that goes against a code of conduct; an offense)
You use to follow the ways of the world(against God)
You use to think more of yourself than of the savior who saved you
You were the one who was disobedient and rebellious all the time
We were all on that path- by our nature, by our own path, we were on that road… but because of God’s great love for us, he made us alive in Christ and dead in transgressions. (Someone should be praising the Lord this moring!)
There are four kinds of people in this room right now- (SermonCentral)
Un-believer-You have never asked Jesus to be a part of your life and He is not your Lord and Savior. At times, you may be curious, but as of yet, you have not made a decision for Christ.
Cultural Christian- you know of Jesus, you believe that it is okay to have a relationship with Jesus, it is culturally acceptable, but you have not pursued that kind of a relationship. Maybe you were raised in a Christian home and some of those principals are working at times in your life.
Casual Christian- You are a believer, (babe in Christ) but you are not willing yet to go deep into the things of God. You have not committed your life over to Christ, you have not surrendered your life, you have not gotten yourself involved in the church or a deep relationship with God’s people in the church because it is not high on the priority list that you yourself have made out. It is like a casual friend, if you were to discuss anything deep, Jesus would not be your first choice, it would not come natural for you to think to talk to Jesus before you make those kinds of decisions. You have not sake out the fullness of Christ that comes with being sanctified and filled with His Spirit.
What would happen if you were casually married? How would that work out?
Committed Christian- you are not perfect, but you are involved in the church, God’s people are important and the things of God are important in your life. You give of your resources, you desire to please God more than you desire to please yourself.
Look at this passage again-
“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.”
Has there been a change in the way you live your life?
If you do not know Jesus, are you now searching and wanting to know him as Lord and savior and not just a figure from the Bible.
If you are a casual Christian, will you allow the Lord to move you into a more committed relationship with Him?
Real faith is a committed faith to God
Real faith at times will be tested- you are still standing on the promises of God and you are standing on the riches and mercy of God to keep one foot in front of the other and keep walking with Jesus.
Story of Daniel in the lion’s den (illustration)
Real faith will be one day rewarded- Maybe not today though today could be the day- but even if we do not see the rewards until we get home, there is a reward for a committed relationship with Jesus.
(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-“
You and I were hopeless, doomed sinners, dead to God.
But God, in his overwhelming love for us loved us where we are at and wants to take us where we need to be.
Although we were dead in our sins, He makes us alive in Christ because of what He has done and the fact that the Spirit of God dwells in us to direct and power our lives.
Allowing Christ into our lives makes us aware of things that cause us to stumble.
Wrong desires
Wrong relationships
Wrong choices
Allowing Christ into your life keeps fleshly and worldly things out
Running from your problems- (addictions, sex, greed, violence)
Selfish purpose- (life completely without Christ having an impact)
He is never made Lord- God made you in His image and the image you choose is your own.
Being in God’s presence makes you aware of godly things in your life
You must have a change of attitude
You must have a change of direction
You must have a change of heart
When you allow more of the Lord in, the more of you that is taken out and more the image of Christ shines in you.
Your faith in Christ saves you, but the work of the Holy Spirit in you keeps you. AMEN
Raised up n Christ! The infusion of divine power in our lives so that we can also experience spiritual resurrection here and now to accomplish all that God wants in our lives.
Seated with Christ- we share in his reign- the privilege, honor, majesty of Christ work on the cross allows us to have such a powerful relationship with our Lord- it personal and it gets more personal the closer you walk with Jesus.
Closing- Could you just quiet yourself before the Lord for a moment?
If we could only grasp who we are in Jesus Christ!
If we could grasp the power that is available for our lives.
He makes a comparison of who we are before Christ and who we are after Christ!
1 John 5:12 “He that has the Son hath life; and he that hath not the son of God hath not life.”
The bible tells us that we can never be good enough, to be good enough- ALL HAVE FALLEN SHORT.
Illustration- and then I will ask you to respond
Winston Churchill had planned his funeral, which took place in St. Paul Cathedral, He included many hymns of the church. At his direction, a bugler, positioned high in the dome of St. Paul’s after the benediction began playing “taps” as he finished. Taps is the universal signal that the day is over. But then came a dramatic turn, as Churchill instructed, as soon as taps was finished, another bugler, placed on the other side of the dome played reveille” it’s time to get up.
It is not how great we are- it is how great a savior we have!
We are so damaged that we cannot fix ourselves- that is the bad news- the good news- because of God’s great love for us, even the dead in Christ can be alive in Christ.
Only Jesus can do that!
All the good works in the world cannot put us in a right relationship with God, but there is something radically wrong with Christianity that does not result in good deeds.
We cannot earn salvation, but because of salvation it should produce good actions.
Prayer time
