Opening illustration: Can a man be officially alive after being declared legally dead? That question became international news when a man from Ohio showed up in good health after being reported missing more than 25 years earlier. At the time of his disappearance he had been unemployed, addicted, and hopelessly behind in child support payments. So, he decided to go into hiding. On his return, however, he discovered how hard it is to come back from the dead. When the man went to court to reverse the ruling that had declared him legally dead, the judge turned down his request, citing a 3-year time limit for changing a death ruling.
That unusual request of a human court turns out to be a common experience for God. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians tells us that though we were spiritually dead, God “made us alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1,5). Yet declaring and making us spiritually alive was a deeply painful matter for God. Our sin and its consequent spiritual death required the suffering, death, and resurrection of God’s Son (vv.4-7).
It’s one thing to show evidence of physical life. Our challenge is to show evidence of spiritual life. Having been declared alive in Christ, we are called to live in gratitude for the immeasurable mercy and life given to us. (Mart DeHaan, ODB 02/11/15)
Introduction: Paul isn't telling us this to depress us. The Apostle Paul wants us first of all to be realistic about human nature. All around us today, even in this world of trouble, people continue to say that the answer to the problems of this world is found in the human heart. The Apostle Paul wants to say to us, ‘No, my friends. All of the problems in this fallen world are found in the human heart, but the answer is not found there, but somewhere else.’ And it is that ‘somewhere else’ from which we get our Christian optimism even during this dark and depressing, sinful world, and that's what Paul wants to point us to this day.
But notice the first words of verse 4: But God ... In other words, this passage is about the movement from death, under the just judgment of God for our sin, to life in Jesus Christ, because of His finished work, and so the Apostle Paul is moving us through the divine actions which rescued us out of our predicament and brought us into the freedom and life of sons and daughters of the Lord Jesus Christ.
How are we alive in Christ?
1. Man’s Problem: Dead in Sin (vs. 1-3)
What does being dead to God look like?
(i) “following the course of this world” (v2)
Lead by peer pressure (the world) Copying others, not wanting to stand out, go with the flow …
Goes deeper than this – behind that peer pressure is the devil.
(ii) “following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” Enslaved to an alien power! NB devil is as close to us as the air we can’t escape = even as Christians easy to swallow satanic attitudes … This is a world of darkness – how at home do you feel in the world? disobedient to God. We end up with the devil inside us, and become his tool in his battle against God. There are two kingdoms in this world. If you feel at home in the world, you are most likely full of the spirit that inspires it. If it feels alien to you then perhaps you are a believer!
(iii) “lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind”
In the 21st Century West we live by unfettered desire – our modern culture is based on this! Money (NB the things money reprs), sex, power (promotion, to be the best, etc.) but also FOOD!
NB when we want what we don’t get we war with others over it …
Illustration: This week’s breaking news from Billy Graham’s point of view was a warning to our nation. Our greatest sins are: (i) Self-centered obsession (ii) Pride (iii) No guilt, shame, remorse or repentance for our sin. In fact, on the Janet Parshal radio show, she made it very clear that we are an almost dead nation. So what should we do? Can we just sit and watch or do something about it?
2. God’s Grace: Alive in Christ (vs. 4-6)
The words, “But God …” are a beacon of light and hope in a sea of despair. The condition of men in sin is not hopeless or terminal because God has come to the rescue of fallen men through His provision in Jesus Christ.
Paul begins with the motivation of God, which prompted Him to provide a way of escape from our condition of sin and eternal death. God was motivated by His mercy and His love for us. This divine motivation will do very little for our self-esteem, however. It will do much to promote humility on our part, and deep gratitude toward God.
Our love for God is prompted by His love for us, a love which initiates our love in response: “We love, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). God’s love for us is vastly different from our love for Him. He loved us while we were His enemies, while we were still dead in our sins and transgressions:
God’s love is not a response, but a cause. God’s mercy is not prompted by our potential or by any qualities we think we possess, but by our own pathetic condition. Divine grace was not bestowed on us because we were so worthy, or because God found anything good in us, but because of the goodness which is in God Himself. The goodness is in the giver, not the recipient.
Suppose that you were called by one of those beauty businesses which specializes in “make-overs.” If you were offered a free “make-over” should you feel flattered? Should you take pride in your beauty? I think not. The make-over is needed because of your lack of beauty. No beauty business is going to advertise its work by selecting a beautiful woman and then making only slight improvements on her beauty. They are going to take the most hopeless case they can find, and then take the credit for the transformation.
If a plastic surgeon called you, offering you free cosmetic surgery, so that he could use you for advertising, you should feel grateful, but not proud. He did not choose you because you were so attractive, but because you were so ugly, and could demonstrate the marvelous skills he has as a plastic surgeon.
So, it is with God’s grace. God sent Jesus Christ to the world, to suffer and to die in the sinner’s place. He did this because we were in such terrible shape. He did this so that He could demonstrate His grace, and His power in transforming a “dead” man or woman into a living sacrifice, a living testimony of His grace and power. God’s motivation in saving us should not flatter us, but it does glorify Him.
God’s grace and salvation does not come to us in various forms, from which we may choose. His grace has been poured out to us lavishly in Christ, and in Him alone. It is through our union with Him that we are transformed from what we were to what He is. Our separation from God through sin has made us what we were in Ephesians 2:1-3. Our identification with Christ, through faith, makes us all that Christ is, as described in Ephesians 1:19-23.
Though on account of our sin we were dead, in Christ we are made alive (verse 5). Though we were formerly dead, we have been raised up in Him (verse 6). And although we were formerly enslaved to our own passions, to the world, and to Satan, in Christ we are seated in the heavenly places, now free from all heavenly and earthly powers that oppose God, and have become enslaved to Him who by love delivered us from our bondage to sin and to death.
Illustration: It isn’t often that one finds good theology written on the back end of an 18-wheeler. Nevertheless, I encountered a truck this week which had some good theology written on its tailgate. The truck was one of those extended dump trucks, belonging to a demolition company. The truck passed me quickly, and all I had time to do was to read the signs painted on the tailgate. The first sign was written in large letters, and it read: “We Could Wreck the World.” The second sign was on the bottom of the tailgate, written in smaller letters. It read: “Jesus Saves.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. Did the owner of the truck intend for these two signs to be read and understood separately, or were they meant to be understood together? The lettering on that truck expressed some mighty good theology. I don’t know how one could sum up the contrast between men and God more concisely. Men could wreck the world, and only Jesus can save it.
3. God’s Purpose: The Praise of the Glory of His Grace (vs. 7-10)
It is most unfortunate that in most of our minds the thought unit is not Ephesians 2:7-10, but rather 2:8-10. Verses 8-10 are two statements, introduced by the word “for,” in support of Paul’s main statement in verse 7. The primary purpose of God for sending His Son to die in the sinner’s place, was not to produce the happiness of the sinner, saved by grace, but rather the demonstration of the grace of God for all eternity.
God’s purposes are not merely temporal, they are eternal. God’s purpose in saving sinners is not just to make men happy, to provide blessings, or to enable men to escape the torments of hell. The fact is that God is just as glorified by the punishment of the wicked as He is the salvation of those whom He makes righteous (see Romans 9:14-23; 1 Peter 2:12; Revelation 16:4-7). Whether it be in the punishment of the wicked or in the salvation of sinners by grace, God is working out all things to His own glory. The salvation of sinners is thus subordinate to God’s ultimate purpose of bringing glory to Himself. In the case of the salvation of sinners, it is the grace of God which is on display. In the case of the judgment of the wicked, it is the holiness and justice of God which is demonstrated.
It should be pointed out that if, as Paul writes, it is the riches of the grace of God which is to be displayed for all eternity, then salvation must be all of God’s doing, and not of our own. Grace is divine favor which is undeserved. God will not share His glory with any other being, and thus the work of salvation is entirely His work.
Paul gives two lines of supporting evidence for his statement that God has saved us for the demonstration of the riches of His grace. Each of these begin with the word “for.” The first is found in verses 8 and 9, the second in verse 10. The first concentrates on the cause of our salvation; the second on its effects. Whether in its cause or in its effects, salvation is all of God, and all of grace.
In Ephesians 2:8 and 9 Paul contends that salvation is not of man’s doing, but of God’s. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.” Men are saved by grace, not by works. This would come as more of a revelation to the self-righteous Jews than to the Gentiles. Men do not enter into eternal life because of their good deeds, but because of God’s goodness, in Christ. We have been saved by grace, through faith. This salvation is God’s gift, and not compensation for our efforts. And this is so that we will not boast, but will rather give glory to God. One cannot boast because of what we have done, but only in what He has done.
Illustration: Imagine taking a ride to Grand Haven (a beautiful local beach here in Michigan) to watch the big waves roll in. Some foolish adolescent jumps in the water by the pier where the undercurrents are treacherous and powerful. He struggles for a moment and then goes under. Because you are a loving and merciful and gracious person, you jump in to save him. But by the time you find him, he is lying on the bottom, apparently dead. You try talking him into swimming to shore, but you know he’s going nowhere on his own. So, you pull him to the beach and stretch him out. You stand over him yelling at him to breathe, but having swallowed half of Lake Michigan, he simply can’t do it. The only way to get him to breath is for you to breathe for him. You give him mouth to mouth resuscitation, and your breath enables him to breathe. In ways, we can’t fathom, God in his grace makes us alive so that we can breathe, and believe.
Application: Christ died for our sins, so that we need not suffer the penalty of death. Christ rose from the dead and was ascended to the right hand of the Father. In Christ, we too are assured of our resurrection from the dead, and of our position with God in the heavenlies. All we must do is to agree with God concerning our condition, as outlined in Ephesians 2:1-3, and to receive Jesus Christ as God’s provision for our salvation, as explained in verses 4-6. In Christ, we cease to be what we once were, and we forever continue to be what Christ is.
If you are a Christian, this text should serve as a reminder of what you once were, and of what you now are, in Christ. It should produce both humility and gratitude. It should stimulate you to love and good deeds, knowing that even the good works which you do are those which God has accomplished in and through you, for His glory.
