Under New Management
Ephesians 2:1-10
I. Consider Your Past 2:1-2:3
A. You WERE Dead 2:1
B. You WERE Unrighteous 2:2-2:3a
C. You WERE Objects of Wrath 2:3b
II. Celebrate Your Present 2:4-2:6; 2:8-2:10
A. BY GRACE you ARE Saved 2:4-5; 2:8-9
B. BY GRACE you ARE Raised 2:6
C. BY GRACE you ARE Recreated 2:10
III. Rejoice in your Future 2:7
Introduction:
Once upon a time... There was a young illerate couple named Dave and Carol. Dave and Carol had recently confessed faith in Jesus Christ and were baptised. And wanting to be more involved in the activities of the church, they regularly attended the Sunday School class for young married couples. And they learned that in this particular Sunday school class, the men all had the same shirts which they would often wear during certain group activities. Wanting to be part of the group, Dave was eager to get HIS matching shirt, so Carol made one for her husband. But after the next meeting, Dave came home with a look of disappointment on his face. He had his shirt, but at the meeting he noticed that all the men had little emblems on their shirts--Dave’s was plain. So Carol, undaunted by her inability to read, sewed three words which she copied from a sign in a store window across the street. Dave wore it at the next meeting. But this time he came home bubbling with joy. He said all the men really liked the inscription that Carol had put on his shirt. They said it so aptly described the wonderful change they had seen in his life. It turned out that his wife had written, "UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT."
You see, we all enter this world under management. We all live our lives under management. And we all die under management. Sadly, too many people are living their lives--and too many people are dying--with the same management under which they were born.
The Bible says that we were all born in sin--that we have from birth a nature that is sinful. So many people around us are living and dying in that sin. But the Bible also says that you don’t have to live in sin... and you don’t have to die in sin.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ you are no longer under the old management. Through what Jesus did on the cross you have a new nature, and you have been placed under new management. In ephesians 2:1-10, the Apostle Paul provides encouragement for the believer, he gats at the very heart of who we WERE, who we ARE, and who we WILL BE.
I. Consider Your Past 2:1-2:3
A. You WERE Dead 2:1
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Now, Paul is not speaking about physical death. John Calvin insisted that Paul is speaking of a "real and present death." Ephesians 4:18 says: "Being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart."
Sin places a body of death upon us. In Romans 7:24 Paul describes the effects of sin. "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" This term to which Paul alludes is descriptive of a shocking execution that was employed by the Romans. A cadaver would be fastened to the condemned person so that he could not be released from the corpse. every move he made was accompanied by the deceased. the decaying flesh of this cadaver would spawn disease and infection upon the condemned individual. Eventually... he would die a slow, painful, and emotionally horrifying death.
Many years ago there was a popular movie entitled "The Way We Were." The characters in the movie spent most of their time taking a sentimental look at the past. That is the way most of want to remember the past. After all, they were "The good ol’ days!" Paul is saying here that the "good old days" were not at all good. He said, "You WERE Dead." The operative word here is not the word "dead" but the qualifier..."WERE" "You WERE Dead." As we reflect on our past we must keep in mind that we are believers in Jesus Christ, we WERE Dead in sin, but by His marvelous Grace, we are NO LONGER dead in sin.
Paul does not simply stop at this point. He goes further to say that we were not only dead in our sin, we were unrighteous.
B. You WERE Unrighteous 2:2-2:3a
2 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,
Now in verse 1, Paul focuses on our "death." In verse 2 he turned his attention to life--that is, the manner in which we lived our lives that resulted in our death. Paul uses the phrase "in which you formerly walked." the term "walked" is an allusion to conduct. Paul is saying here, in conjuction to verse 1, that we lived in our sins. In the same manner with which we describe our "Christian walk" Paul refers to our "sinful walk." Continuing in verse 2 he explains the nature of that walk:
"...according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working..." These prepositions reveal the source of the old management under which we served. 2 Cor. 4:3-4 says: "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
Paul continues his emphasis in verse 3:
3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh..." Radio personality PAul Harvey told a story about how an eskimo kills a wolf. It is a gruesome story, but it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin.
First, the Eskimo coats the blade of his knife with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood and allows that to freeze, and another, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood.
Next, the hunter fixes the handle of the knife into the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the sourse of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood.
The wolf then begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more--until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!
Like that wolf, Paul says that we were consumed by our own lusts. Our willingness to yield to the old management--to live in sin--resulted in our death and, as Paul says in 2:3, made us objects of wrath.
C. You WERE Objects of Wrath 2:3b
and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
Colossians 3:5-6 says: "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. for it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience."
Paul uses the word "wrath" here in the context of an outward expression. Rather than view the concept of wrath as a process that sinners bring upon themselves, Paul personalizes the term. The expression of wrath comes in the form of alienation from God. In Romans 1:24 we are told that "God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them."
A popular preacher once said, "When we fall into the outer darkness, we do not go in bands and companies--each man must fall by himself. And this same lonliness will mark the judgement of each soul. ’Thou must go forth alone’ is the hardest part of the verdict pronounced upon the impenitent sinner."
But, if we view God’s wrath--or judgement--in light of our own court system then we can be comforted by the fact that when we stand before God we will have at our disposal a team of two, perhaps three, attorneys to defend our case. All that will be required of us is to grace the court with our presence and let the lawyers battle it out. We will never be required to take the stand and never have to answer directly to the charges against us. And if for some reason we are ordered to speak on our behalf, we can claim our constitutional right to plea the fifth afterwhich we can comfortably sit back and plea-bargain for a lesser sentence.
Regardless of how strong our desire to fool ourselves into a sense of false security, we would be wise to consider the message that Paul is conveying. He paints a very grim picture for those who do not know Jesus Christ. Paul said that we lived in sin, we identified with Stan, and therefore we were spiritually dead and deserving of God’s wrath.
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal savior--if you are still living under the old management, there is very little reason for hope. But Paul does not leave us without hope. In reality, the hopelessness of life without Christ elevates even higher the hope we have in Him.
There is a common phrase used in the billy Graham School at the Seminary. Before you get a man saved...you have to get him lost. In our world today the message of salvation through Jesus Christ is not readily received. Why? Most people are in a state of denial. After all, some would say, I have nothing from which I have to be saved.
But that argument certainly does not stand up when put to the biblical test. The Bible says very clearly that if you are not a believer in Jesus Christ, you have plenty from which you need to be saved. Paul says you need to be saved from death, from the power of sin, from the wrath of God. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ--Reflect on your Past. Paul says THAT’S WHERE YOU WERE! Then, celebrate your present. Celebrate...because you have been saved from spiritual death. Celebrate...because you have been saved from the power of Satan. Celebrate...because you have been saved from the wrath of God.
II. Celebrate Your Present 2:4-2:6; 2:8-2:10
A. BY GRACE you ARE Saved 2:4-5; 2:8-9
The first two words in verse 4 serve as the springboard for the remainder of our text. "But God." These two words stand between the grim picture of unrighteousness, death, and wrath and the hope of eternal salvation though Jesus Christ. God is the Initiator. God is the Creator. God is the Designer. God is the organizer of the plan of salvation.
In verse 4, Paul conveys the theme of Psalm 145:8: "The LORD is gracious and merciful; slow to anger and great in lovingkindness." The first quality mentioned in verse 4 in "rich in mercy." Mercy is the antithesis...the opposite of divine wrath. Paul said in Ephesians 1:7 "In Him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace."
The definition of mercy is having withheld that which is deserved. In this case, we deserved God’s wrath and ultimate condemnation. But because of his great love He made us alive. By his grace, the old life has ceased. By his grace our past has been pardoned. THE OLD MANAGEMENT HAS RETIRED AND THE NEW MANAGEMENT HAS TAKEN OVER.
Lloyd H. Steffen wrote in The Christian Century how when King Frederick II,
and eighteenth century king of Prussia, was visiting a prison in Berlin, the
inmates tried to prove to him how they had been unjustly imprisoned. All
except one. That one sat quietly in a corner, while all the rest protested their innocence.
Seeing him sitting there oblivious to the commotion, the king asked him what he was there for. "Armed robbery, Your Honor."
The king asked, "Were you guilty?"
"Yes Sir, " he answered. "I entirely deserve my punishment."
Then king then gave an order to the guard: "Release this guilty man.
You see, like this prisoner, you and I were in prison. We were in bondage to sin. We were slaves to sin and spiritually dead. And like this prisoner, we were pardoned. did this man do anything to deserve it? No! Likewise, what God offers you is by his initiation. As we read in verse 8: "For by grace you have been saved though faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." YOu cannot earn your salvation. Paul makes it clear that is from God, and from God alone. We have been given an everlasting gift. For that reason, we are to celebrate the present.
Not only did God save us from the power if sin, death and wrath, verse 6 says we were "raised up."
B. BY GRACE you ARE Raised 2:6
Verse 6 says, "And raised up with him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."
God not only saved us, He has raised us up from death in sin to Life, and seated us with Christ. Colossians 2:12 says, "Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead." The term "seated" in verse 6 can also be translated "enthroned." Here we see a connection between Jesus’ resurrection and our having been raised up. romans 6:5 says, "for if we have become united with Him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection."
The author of 1 Peter writes in chapter 2, verse 9: "But you are a chosed race, a royal priesthood,a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
The highest spot in the continental United States in Mt. Whitney in Northern California. It stands a majestic 14,495 feet. From it’s top, a beautiful panorama of landscape unfolds. But just 80 miles southeast is Death Valley, the lowest spot in the Unites States at 280 feet beow sea level. Death Valley is also the hottest in the country with temperatures reaching 134 degrees in the shade. It is a stark contrast to Mt. Whitney.
In these verses we see the stark contrast between the "Death Valley" of sin and despair and the mountain peak to which God lifts us up. D.L. Moody once said:
"God is so anxious to save sinners He will take everyone who comes. He will take those who are so full of sin that they are despised by all who know them; who have been rejected by their fathers and mothers, who have been cast off by their wives and their husbands. He will take whose who have sunk so low that upon them no eye of pity is cast."
Because of His great love and mercy, God reach down to the very depths of our sin, saved us from death and lifted us up. And in so doing, we have been re-created.
C. BY GRACE you ARE Recreated 2:10
In verse 10, Paul writes that "we are his workmanship," literally we are his making. We have been created. We have been formed. This is not in the general sense, but in the sense of a new creation. 2 Cor. 5:17 says: "Therefore is anyone is in Christ he is a new creation, old things have passed away, behold, new things have come."
Paul says we have been re-created "for good works." The emphasis here is on holy living, the exact opposite of how we lived in the past.
When the Standard oil Company began to refine petroleum, there was a black substance,a by-product, that no one knew what to do with. It was black, sticky, stinking, it could not be buried, not burned, and everyone complained of the all but endurable stench. If it were run into a strem. it killed all the fish. Therefore, the company offered a reward to anyone able to solve the problem. a great meny chemists, attracted by the promised reward, occupied themselves wiht the task of coming up with a solution. Finally, one walked into the office of Mr. Rockfeller with a white shining substance free from every offensive quality--and in fact extremely useful. It was what we know of today as paraffin, used for candles and hundreds of other purposes.
Like this chemist, God takes the dirty, sticky, stinking parts of our lives and applies the cleaning agent--the blood of Jesus Christ--through with the dirt is removed. We are cleansed, and re-created.
In the past, we walked in sin; in the present we are to walk in righteousness. In the past we were dead in sin, in the present we are alive in Christ. In the past we were under the old management. In the present, it is the new management which now had control.
Consider your past
Celebrate your present
III. Rejoice in your Future 2:7
Why rejoice in the future? What does the future hold for those who believe in Jesus Christ?
1. No Death
Rev 21:4
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
2. Eternity with Jesus
1Thes 4:17
17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
3. Presense of the Father
Rev 22:4
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
4. A Home beyond compare
Rev 21:11-23
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using.
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Conclusion:
There is not force in all creation that has the awesome power to make the changes that Paul writes about here. Our best efforts cannot remedy our depraved condition. Regardless of how intelligent we are, how gifted we might be, how religious we claim to be, only the grace of God can pull us out of the unrighteousness and spiritual death we faced. Paul gives us hope. If we are in Jesus Christ, you WERE dead, but NOW you are alive. You WERE unrighteous, but NOW you have been purified in the blood of the lamb. You WERE objects of wrath, but NOW you stand before God forgiven.
Because of God’s love, we have been brought out of our past condition. He has saved us. He has lifted us up. He has re-created us. And he has given us a hope--an assurance for the future that can come about only though a decision to follow Jesus Christ.
Most people in our world, and I’ll bet everyone in this room believes they are going to heaven. If you take nothing else with you this morning, remember this:
A person may go to heaven–
without wealth, without beauty, without learning, without fame, without culture, without friends--BUT NOONE CAN GO TO HEAVEN WITHOUT KNOWING JESUS.
You were born under the old management. Without Jesus Christ in your life you will live under that same management. Without Jesus in your life, your will die under the old management. Only by accepting the new management into your life, allowing the transforming power of Jesus Christ to direct your life, will you have life more abundantly and a future in heaven with Him.
