The First Gift
Rev. Sean Lester
December 21, 2003 morning service
Text: Ephesians 2:1-10
Introduction
A. What do you get the person who has absolutely nothing? The answer is anything practical would be a blessing. For instance, when a young couple gets married, they often begin their lives with very little of what is necessary to begin a family. Typically, the couple puts together a list of what they need, or place a registry at a store so that friends and family can buy them presents that will do the most good.
Likewise, a couple having their first child often starts with very little that is necessary for raising a child. So, it is customary for friends to hold a baby shower so that the couple may rejoice over the blessed event and receive very needed gifts. Usually, the more diapers that are given, the better.
B. At Christmas, we pay homage to God for giving us the most valuable gift possible. We needed the gift of salvation because we are people who have nothing.
1. Salvation is needed by people because we are by nature disobedient to God. We are dead in trespasses, that is, we do things that are forbidden by God and we go places where we are not allowed to go. By nature, we like to do things that are forbidden.
2. Salvation is needed by people because we are by nature unable to be good enough to be considered righteous. We are dead in our sins. We know what we are supposed to do, but our nature is not to do them so that we can do things that please ourselves. In this way, we are by nature lazy. And because we are lazy, we fall short of what is necessary to be considered righteous.
C. We are dead in our sins, and have no way to make ourselves alive.
1. We are only capable of doing what makes us happy, or feels good to us. By following our instincts, we are led in our spirits by the prince and power of the air, the devil. We do what comes naturally to us, which is the same as what comes naturally to Satan. It is the same thing as when long time married people can hold conversations without saying a word. Kindred spirits relate without saying a word.
2. In this way, all people are in nature the same. They are children of wrath. That is, they are motivated by fear. All people tend to seek peace and safety by avoiding strife and conflict. By people are self-defeating, and while seeking peace, they cause war.
3. The Peter Principle describes human nature perfectly. In an organization, people tend to rise until they find a place where they are not good at the job, and there they stay. The result, any organization over time will become self-defeating.
Proposition: The only escape from are own sinful nature is to be saved by an act of God.
Interrogative: Will God save people from themselves?
Transition: Here is the good news, the first and best gift God ever gave you came at the very first Christmas, it is the gift of salvation. For memory’s sake, I will express my points this morning as an acronym, G.I.F.T.
G. is for the Grace of God.
" But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, (2:5) made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved"
A. This gift was provided for you even before you came to Christ in repentance.
While you were partying and enjoying life without any thought for God, God was thinking about you and preparing to call you to himself.
While you were committing acts of immorality, God was thinking about you and planning to save you.
While you were lost and unable to find you way through life, God was preparing to find you and bring you to himself.
B. The Holy Spirit is pregnant with souls to be birthed. When a couple are with child, they don’t wait until the baby is born to set up the crib and buy clothes. If they are smart, they begin to buy what is needed long beforehand. They set up the nursery so it is ready for when they come home. They stock up on diapers and formula.
C. And that is what God did for you. Before you were saved, God was storing up his riches for you. Jesus 1was already preparing your place in heaven. You didn’t deserve it, but you got it because God is graceful.
"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, (2:7) in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. "
D. Also, God had a plan for your life long before you ever came to him to be saved. Once again, this is because had always been thinking about you, preparing for you. You had no idea that God loved you, but he did. He loved you before you loved him.
E. Several generations of the Ford family have run the car manufacturer named after them. It was the plan for each child to be prepared to take over the family business. Even before William Ford was born, his dad was preparing a place for him in the company.
F. Before you could be birthed into the kingdom, God also planned for you to take a place in his business. He already decided that he would show his kindness to the world by raising you up as an example of His love.
Did you come to him sick? He already planned to heal you.
Did you come to him as a failure? He already planned to raise you up as a success.
Did you come to him in shame? He already planned to restore you.
G. I wrote notes to each of my children to be opened by them on their 18th birthday. I wrote each note before my wife gave birth to them in the labor room. In my note, I tell them how much I am proud of them, and how much I have enjoyed being their father. But, I wrote these before they were born. I just decided that this was how I wanted it to be when they were grown. God did the same thing, he decided how your life was to be fulfilled, and called you to it. And this took place before you were saved.
Transition: The gift of salvation is an act of God’s grace, one that can only be received by faith.
I. is for an Imputed Gift.
"(2:8) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— "
A. Faith is the means by which salvation is received, and not by anything that you might do to create it or earn it. By faith, I mean being convinced that God exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. When you seek God, you find Jesus Christ, and by believing in Christ, you unwrap the gift of salvation.
B. God told Abraham that Sarah, his wife, would bear him a son in their old age. The notion was laughable (in fact, Sarah did laugh). Yet, Abraham believed that God could keep his word. Even though Abraham was very human, and very flawed, God chose to consider him righteous. In other words, God imputed righteousness on Abraham because Abraham wasn’t by nature righteous.
I experienced this personally when I was in sixth grade. In my school, report cards came out every two weeks. We were graded in all of our subjects, plus we also received grades for our behavior and our penmanship. It was always my goal to earn straight A’s. I usually could get A’s in my subjects, most of the time in my behavior. However, I had horrible handwriting. There was little chance of me earning a straight A report card because of it. But, there was one time when I had earned A’s in everything, except that I hadn’t yet been graded on my handwriting. I took my report slip to my teacher who looked at how well I had done, and then checked my writing. He frowned at my writing, then he put an A in the handwriting spot. There is no way that I earned an A. It had to be imputed.
C. That is the good news about salvation. Salvation is a gift that is presented through the preaching of the gospel. A preacher tells you about Jesus Christ, and if you believe the message, and offer yourself to God believing that God will save you, then you have unwrapped the gift of salvation. You don’t have to put off salvation until you have had time to go home and fix a few things in your life. You don’t have to clean up your act and them come back. You can be saved right now simply because you believe the message.
Transition: The gift of salvation is imputed, which means that you can’t buy it, either.
F. is for Free, as in a free gift.
(2:9) not by works,
A. Religion is the practice of either living works, or of dead works. Dead works are those things that are done to appease God, that is, to keep from being angry with you.
If you go to church to make God approve of you, it is a dead act.
If you give to charity to make God approve of you, it is a dead act.
If you take a position in the church or in the community to make God approve of you, it is a dead act.
If you sing worship songs and pray with enthusiasm in order to earn God’s approval of you, it is a dead act.
Anything you do in order to make God approve of you is a dead act and cannot save you. The fact is, you can’t do anything that will allow you to deserve salvation. You will never deserve to be saved. You will never be able to buy off God.
B. Salvation is a gift given by someone who loves you. God’s affection, like any affection can’t be bought. For instance, many men will go to great lengths to earn a girl’s love. They will take them out to a nice restaurant, to a movie or play, and give flowers in order to earn the kiss at the end of the night. And perhaps, the girl may feel that he did earn the kiss. But, he didn’t earn her love, because love can’t be bought.
C. It is important to remember that love is not proven by gifts purchased. It is so tempting to earn appreciation from people you love by overbuying at Christmas. Love is not in proportion to what you do. Love is freely given, or it isn’t love at all. God’s gift of salvation is a gift that he gives you because he loves you, and it was purchased long before you decided to love him.
Think of it this way, when you came to being, before you were born, God wrapped a gift and put your name on it. When you come to him in repentance, he just gives it to you because he always had it for you.
"so that no one can boast."
D. It should be noted that you have no right to brag about your righteousness. You didn’t have anything to do with it.
E. Let’s return to my 6th grade report card. I had it, but I didn’t earn it. When I was given the A in handwriting, I started to brag about it to my classmates. But, they knew the truth and mocked me because of it. I was angry, but mostly because they were right. My A was a gift.
F. Don’t ever forget that no matter how good you have it in life, it has nothing to do with you. God blessed you. God keeps you. God heals you and enables you to do things.
Transition: Finally, this gift isn’t just a thing that you own, it is a gift that takes ownership of you.
T. is for Transforming gift.
"(2:10) For we are God’s workmanship,"
A. When you come to God to receive his salvation, God accepts you by putting his Holy Spirit inside you. That Holy Spirit begins to change you. Things that you did before that are sin, you don’t want to do anymore. Things that you didn’t want to do before, like be around Christians, and go to church, you want to do. The change is the Holy Spirit changing you to be like Jesus Christ.
B. Jesus used the illustration of yeast being worked into dough. Before yeast in introduced, the dough is just a ball of flour, milk, and sugar. When baked, it is hard and flat. But when yeast is introduced, the dough rises and becomes fluffy and light when baked.
C. Many people find some difficulty after God saves them. Friends and family who had come to love you as a sinner don’t always know what to do with you after the Holy Spirit becomes a part of you. But, if you are faithful to God, they will either drift away from you, or they will come to Christ because of you. However, there can be no doubt that the change is for the good.
" created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
D. Dead works, as I have already mentioned, are works done to appease God. Living works are those deeds we do because we love God.
A dead work is the gift of flowers to gain a girl’s favor. A living work is the gift of flowers to your wife on an ordinary day.
A dead work is a gift you give because it makes you feel good about yourself. A living work is a gift you give because you are determined to advance the gospel.
E. There are living works that God has planned for you to do. As Jesus told the disciples, "I will give you power, when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses (everywhere)." These are the kinds of works that do God’s will and are done with His power.
F. When John and Peter healed the lame man at the temple gate, that was a living work.
When Barnabas sold property and gave it to the work of the church, that was a living act.
When Stephen stood before a council and accused them of killing Jesus, the result of which got Stephen killed, that was a living act.
When Paul submitted himself to torture and imprisonment because of the stir that his preaching caused, that was a living act.
G. The gift of God is salvation, that is confirmed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit causes you to serve God with passion and conviction. It turns you into a zealot, a lover of people, a preacher of the gospel.
Transition: The change is the confirmation that the gift of salvation has been received.
Conclusion
A. The gift of salvation is the one gift that all people need. Without it, people are doomed to fail to please God and as a result spend eternity in a lake of fire.
B. But the gift of salvation is a gift that is available to all people. It is without charge, and it is already purchased and wrapped and under the tree.
C. When asked what you got for Christmas, I pray that you can say, "salvation from Jesus".
