The letter to the Ephesians

Ephesians 2v1-10 Made alive in Christ!

Theme: We were dead, but God has made us alive to do good works!
Aim: Get on with good works!

(marketing blunders joke)

So far we have looked at the incomparable glory of Christ, and the tremendous way in which Gods plan for us is being worked out – past, present and future – through Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. Now our attention is drawn to our situation; what has happened in the lives of every person who is now a Christian through Gods grace, and what God has in mind for us to be doing now.

I want to look at this in three parts. We were all dead in our sin (v1-3), God has made us alive in Christ (v4-7) and we are saved for good works (v8-10)

We were all dead in our sin (v1-3)

The opening statement in v1 seems harsh, but Paul doesn’t want to beat around the bush here. We were dead in our transgressions and sins. Obviously we didn’t used to be biologically dead – common sense and our own experience tells us that. The word is used in the sense of being “dead to God”.

Are you aware of the fate which awaits most people who turn to Jesus and become Christians in Islamic countries? Often the best that they can hope for is to be treated as though dead by their families. Their mother and father, brothers and sisters will have nothing to do with them, will never speak to them again. Sometimes a family will even hold a funeral for a person who becomes a Christian. Sadly, they are saying “our relationship is broken, destroyed. You are dead to me”.

That is how we all were with God. If we look in Genesis we can see God warning Adam that if he eats from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he will die. Adam was disobedient and sinned, and he was exiled from Gods presence. It was as though he was dead, his relationship was broken.

Before we became Christians, we lived according to the ways of this world, the ways of the ruler of the kingdom of air – a metaphor for Satan. We would gratify the cravings of our sinful nature and follow its desires and thoughts (v3).

We were dead to God because our life was being lived in ways which were not according to his will. We looked out for ourselves first, and made sure we got what we wanted; doing what was needed in order to justify it.

I’m ashamed to say that nearly half of my non-Christian friends who I saw married have now split from their wives. One of them told me “I’m not getting what I want from the relationship. I’ve only got one life and it’s up to me to see that it is as good as I can make it”.

It sounds shocking, but to a greater or lesser degree the Bible tells us that we all had this selfishness in our hearts. It is there in the youngest of children… only two, and yet our daughter will still attempt to wrest total control of a toy or playground slide for herself without thinking twice about it. The imperative to share things and play nicely isn’t part of our natural makeup, and the only reason we as much niceness as we do in this country comes down to socialisation based upon… historic Christian ideals.

Fundamentally though – we were all prisoners of sin, followers of the way of this world and not followers of God. And as such we were dead to God.

But God wasn’t prepared to leave us there…

God has made us alive in Christ (v4-7)

See two of Gods wonderful characteristics brought to the fore straight away in v4. because of his great love for us and his richness in mercy he wasn’t prepared to leave us where we were. He wasn’t prepared for this spiritual death to keep us out of relationship with Him.

Even when we were dead in our sins, God has made us alive in Christ.

As we saw right at the start of this letter, God didn’t look down upon us and judge us by our physical attractiveness, by our intelligence or cleverness or personality or talents, picking those that were at the top of their class in every respect. We were dead in our sins.

I don’t know whether or not you’ve heard this joke, but I think it is relevant… what would Elvis be doing if he were alive today? Scratching on the inside of his coffin.

We had as much chance of changing our position before God as a corpse has of releasing himself from the coffin and digging his way up through six foot of earth. We were about as attractive as a maggoty corpse.

But God, who is rich in mercy, has saved us by grace. Two words with similar but distinct meanings. The way that I like to remember them is as follows. Mercy is when we don’t get what we deserve. Grace is when we are given that which we don’t deserve.

In Christian salvation, Mercy and Grace come together beautifully. Mercy says that we don’t receive the just condemnation and judgement that we deserve for our sin – possible because Jesus has already paid for our sin on the cross. Grace says that we receive that which we don’t deserve – unlooked for salvation and more… v6 says that God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms!

We are not just receiving a “free pardon” for what we have done wrong, we are unexpectedly being dressed in royal robes we don’t deserve, and raised up to the highest place with Christ Jesus the saviour, the Son of God.

How amazing is that?

v7 tells us that this all will demonstrate the incomparable riches of Gods grace. His tremendous kindness to us – kindness is too small a word, but it is the only one we have – His tremendous kindness to us in Christ Jesus and through the work of Christ Jesus is breathtaking not just to us, but to the heavenly host as well.

What could compare with grace on this level? Taking rotting maggoty corpses and making them kings. Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Saved For Good Works! (v8-10)

The Bible is very clear – nobody is ever saved as a result of their own good works. It doesn’t matter how good we might be, how generous and kind and thoughtful and giving, none of that will suffice to gain entry to heaven for us. The saving faith in Jesus comes as a gift from God, who initiates the desire in our hearts to search for him, and also completes it.

Verse 9 points out that if anyone was saved by their good works and good character, they would have grounds for boasting over other Christians. That isn’t the case. We are all on equal footing before God. We were all equally dead in our transgressions and sins. We all equally needed Gods mercy and grace. We all equally receive faith from God to trust in Jesus.

But that isn’t the end of the story by a long shot. Take a look at v10. We are Gods workmanship. We are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. God has prepared good works in advance for us to do.

Every one of us was hand-crafted by God. There are no assembly-line humans, each of us has an individual makers mark stamped on our character.

God intends all of us to be involved in good works. At different times of our lives we have different opportunities, different degrees of freedom, that is true. But God intends all of us to be involved in good works one way or another. As Jesus said in Matt 5v16 “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven”.

Our good works can bring glory to God. Isn’t that worth doing?

Wait, there’s more.

God has prepared things in advance for us to do. Out there, in the weeks ahead of us, there are specific good deeds which God has prepared for you to do, prepared for me to do. They are individually crafted for our own particular circumstances and talents. They are the opportunities which God has prepared for you and I to bring glory to God, and to say “thank you” for his mercy and grace, extended towards us.

Lets start looking out for those good works that God has prepared for us!

Alex White