Ephesians 2:1-10
“Praise the Lord!”
By: Rev. Kenneth Emerson Sauer, Pastor of Parkview United Methodist Church, Newport News, VA
www.parkview-umc.org.
As most of you know, since we weren’t here last Sunday, Jeanne, Ben and myself were at Jeanne’s mom’s house near Atlanta, Georgia in order to celebrate Christmas.
Jeanne has a big family that just keeps on growing.
She has three brothers, and from two of those brothers we now have three little nephews and one niece.
Anyway, Jeanne’s family has a really neat tradition that they celebrate each year—while everyone is sitting around the Christmas tree—before any gifts are opened.
Sitting in a circle, each family member shares his and her thoughts on what he or she is thankful for this year.
Quite often the word ‘family’ is repeated over and over again.
This year, when it was Jeanne’s brother Allen’s turn to say what he is thankful for his answer was: “I am thankful for the gift of being given the opportunity to serve God.”
I had a feeling Allen would say something to that affect, and it was quite moving.
Why did I have this feeling?
It’s not because Allen has said this sort of thing in the past while giving thanks at the Hoskyn home on Christmas day.
It’s because I’ve known what a great work God has been doing in Allen’s life this past year…
…and having seen first hand, experienced first hand and read about what affect this great work has had on hundreds and thousands and millions of other people throughout the past 2,000 years…
…well, I just had a feeling that this is what Allen was going to be thankful for.
In our Epistle Lesson for this morning, the apostle Paul tells us Christians what…well…in a sense what we already know.
Now, it is sort of inside stuff…
…only because of the fact that one has to have experienced it for one’s self in order to be able to relate to it and understand it.
Paul reminds us how we used to be spiritually dead or separated from the life of God back when we were trying to do things on our own…back before we accepted God’s free gift of salvation for ourselves by grace through faith.
I’ve known Allen for a good little while now.
I’ve always liked him…
…always gotten along with him alright…
…well, gee, I even performed the wedding ceremony for he and his wife just over three years ago.
But, I never could have guessed what God had in store for him…
…well, I should probably say that a little differently…
…I always could have guessed the salvation that God had in store for him…
…I just never could have guessed what Allen would do with that salvation once it was offered.
Would he accept it and run with it?
Or would he never accept it and never run with it?
Up until last year around this time, Allen seemed to have no interest at all in Christianity…
…and although he is a very gifted person…
…he has always seemed to me to be unsatisfied with life and maybe a bit unhappy.
He was a pretty heavy party-animal the first time I met him…
…among other things.
But, last Christmas, or on the Sunday following last Christmas…
Allen and his wife invited Jeanne, Ben and I to join them in attending worship services at a United Methodist Church they had been visiting…and so we went.
I was excited…I knew something was stirring.
In this day and age, for a person in their late 20’s or early thirties to suddenly decide to start going to church…
…well, I think God is calling them and they are beginning to listen.
We are living in the post-Christian era.
It is no longer the socially respectable or in-thing to attend church.
Most people, seem to find other things to do on Sunday morning…unless, unless they have a real reason for being there.
Because most of us are busy following “the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air”…that is Satan, the devil, or in Jesus’ words “the prince of this world.”
And “the prince of this world” is the one we are following if we are not following Christ.
We may try to be good enough to go to heaven while still following “the ruler of the kingdom of the air.”
We may even think we are good enough people on our own---saving our own souls through good works while ignoring the gift of faith, the gift of God Who is Jesus Christ the Lord.
Many of us feel as if we do not need to confess our sins.
After-all, we aren’t that bad.
Our sins aren’t that horrible.
We aren’t like the murderers, the adulterers, the child molesters…
But anyone who thinks that they have earned a good enough grade before God, even a passing grade, has not really come into the presence of the real God of the Bible at all.
They have not seen the Lord “high and lifted up.”
They have not recognized themselves for what they are in the sight of God, sinners like all the rest.
They have not cried out like the Prophet Isaiah when God came and called him: “Woe to me!…I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips.”
Such a vision of what we are before the holiness of God is essential to our salvation according to the Bible.
Listen to a couple of the demands of God as Jesus defines them: “If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart…”
How many of us can stand up to such high standards?
A prayer before dinner for many or most of us could easily be: “O God, forgive us for feasting while others starve.”
As a matter of fact, the closer we come to God…the more we realize our unholiness.
We never achieve a passing grade on our own.
And if we think we do, then we are like the Pharisees, committing the sin of pride, which rips us even farther away from God…
We may say things like “God, I thank you that I am not like other people.”
…no, there is no boasting about one’s self in the kingdom of God!
We are all… “by nature objects of wrath.”
By nature, we are all alone… without God...
…and the only remedy is a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
And this comes by grace, through faith---it’s not from ourselves---“it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”
Several months ago, Jeanne and I received an E-mail from Allen.
He had made the decision.
He had made the choice as to who he was going to follow.
He chose to follow Jesus.
God had been calling him for a long time…he had just decided not to listen.
Therefore, he had gone to college and earned a degree in social work, but had found that unsatisfying.
Then he had returned to college and earned a degree in teaching, but found that unsatisfying.
He had moved to a number of different areas in the country…always finding that the grass is not greener on the other side of the fence.
He had run and run…
…until he finally stopped to listen…
…and once he stopped to listen, he found himself changing in the most unusual and miraculous ways.
He decided to give it all over to God, and allow God to lead him in the way God wants to lead him…
…As verse 10 tells us “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
And this past week when I saw Allen for the first time in a year---I saw a new person!
It was, a literal resurrection from the dead.
And this is what happens to everyone who finally listens to God’s voice in their lives and makes the decision to accept His free gift of faith and salvation.
In Paul’s letter to the Christians in Ephesus, he let’s them know how thankful he is to God ever since he heard about their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which has saved them.
But notice that in this letter Paul doesn’t make mention about how excited he is that sometime in the future they will be raised up with Christ and seated with Him in heavenly realms.
Because, in a very real way, Christians experience the Resurrection from the dead as soon as they are born again, or accept the free gift of salvation through faith.
Have we experienced this?
Let’s take another look at Ephesians Chapter 2 verses 4-7.
Resurrection is a present reality for those whom God has already made alive!!!
This past week, Allen and I had several meaningful and exciting conversations.
“Ken, it’s amazing what God can do.
I know it’s not me doing it. I could never do these things on my own.
I’ve always sworn and used really bad language ever since I was a little kid, but somehow God has taken that away.
I’ve lost my interest in drinking and getting drunk, and my temper, which I have never been able to control on my own, is getting better and better.”
Allen’s wife attested to the truth of that several times during the week.
And when we all sat around the Christmas tree, voicing what we are thankful for…Allen said he is thankful for the gift of being given the opportunity to serve God.
Praise the Lord!
What are we thankful for?
Let us pray: Almighty God, if there is anyone here this morning who has not stopped to hear Your voice, may they stop and listen. If there is anyone here this morning who has not accepted Your grace—salvation through faith—Your gift to us in Christ Jesus, may they do it now. And Lord, for those of us who have been saved, may we remember that it is only through You, by You, and for Your sake that we have been given this immeasurably great gift. May we not forfeit the opportunity to allow ourselves to be created more and more in Christ Jesus to do good works, which You have prepared in advance for us to do. Amen.
