Before and After Christ

Hoarders: Buried Alive

If you have ever watched the show you know how hard it is to watch and yet how hard it is to turn off once you start.

I didn’t know this until I watched a couple of episodes, but there are different kinds of hoarders.

Trash hoarders who literally can’t throw away useless trash.

Food Hoarders who hold on too food long past it being safe to eat.

Compulsive shoppers who hoard things they purchase, much of which never gets used or worn.

Animal hoarder bet you can guess that one.

And sentimental hoarders who hold most everything in their life as something special.

Regardless of what type of hoarding is happening, one thing that each share in common, and what is so striking about the show, is almost everyone of them doesn’t see what their doing as destructive.

They have come to a point of rationalizing the tiny paths throughout the mounds of clothing and junk.

They struggle to see why food that literally has an inch of mold growing in it needs to be thrown out.

They have grown accustomed to living in conditions that are not just messy, but dangerous.

The premise of the show is bringing in counselors and family to try and open their eyes so they can see the situation for what it is.

You can’t help but watch in astonishment that, trying to figure out what’s keeping them from seeing.

As we read Ephesians 2:1-10 this morning, Paul is describing our lives before Jesus saves us.

Yet like those people in the Hoarders show, there is something that keeps those living far from Christ from seeing the depravity of their lives without Him.

Outside of Christ we are living in depravity that we are convinced is a happy, comfortable, secure, and satisfying life.

What we need more than anything in this world is for God to open our eyes and open our hearts to what is really true.

Listen to Paul’s words:

Ephesians 2:1–10 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Chapters and headings are often helpful for us as we are reading through the bible, but in this case they create a break that isn’t intended.

Paul isn’t starting a new thought here, but building upon the previous verses.

He has just prayed for the Ephesians to know the power of God that we see most profoundly in the resurrection of Jesus from death.

Now He applies this resurrection power to our story.

“That power that raised Christ Jesus from the dead, it is the same power that has or can change your life for eternity.

But we can’t understand the magnitude and magnificence of what Jesus has done until we understand just how desperate we are without Him.

So Paul spend the first part of the verse describing who are were/are before faith in Christ AND who we are/can be once we come to know Him as Lord.

Who we WERE/ ARE outside of Christ.

Paul uses three words to describe were/are outside of Christ.

The first word is DEAD

Ephesians 2:1 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

He does say we are sick or off course, but that we are DEAD apart from Christ.

To be dead here isn’t pointing only to the inevitable death of our physical bodies, but, more importantly, to the lifelessness of our souls outside of Christ, spiritual deadness.

To be spiritually dead means there is a blindness to the goodness of Jesus, a deafness to the voice of the Holy Spirit, and a lack of love for the things of God.

And this deadness is a result of our trespasses and sin.

These 2 words were chosen with intention.

The word “transgression” means “to take a wrong step or deviate from the right path.

It is the active rebellion or turning our backs on God.

Sins of commission - what we do in active rebellion against God.

He could have left it there, but Paul anticipates the responses.

“I really haven’t done anything particularly bad though.”

And so the second word “Sin” literally means missing the mark or falling short of the standard.

This isn’t the active rebellion of the first word, but passive resistance to obedience to God.

Not living how we were designed and called to live.

Sins of omission - passive sin — what we don’t do out of resistance to God.

The second word, though not directly used, it is absolutely implied, is ENSLAVED.

Outside of Christ we all live with a false sense of freedom.

We believe true freedom is the ability to whatever we want, whenever we want, without limits.

But no one is ever truly free.

Paul says that outside of Christ we all walked “according to the ways of this world”, meaning we get our marching orders from influences within the culture, systems, and customs of the world around us.

He also says our lives and the decisions we make are influences by the “ruler of the power of the air,” whom we know to be Satan.

As much as we try to deny it or ignore it, there is a war going on all around us (to which Paul will speak more about in the last chapter) that is influencing our lives in ways we fail to see and often refuse to believe.

The third thing he points to that enslaves us in our sinful condition is the “inclinations of our flesh and thought.”

What we often think of as freedom to express ourselves as we want with out restraint is actually us just trying to satisfy an urge or a craving.

The result of our pursuit of fulfillment or temporary relief isn’t freedom, but bondage to our own flesh that often takes over our lives.

Though we likely fail or refuse to see it outside of Christ, no one is really free.

The final word Paul uses to describe our state before Christ is CONDEMNED.

This is a judicial word and it means we have been found guilty and given a sentence.

Particularly, we are found guilty of trespasses and sin and our punishment is death.

We spend our every waking moment it seems trying to justify our existence.

Trying to keep people happy, impress people, or even just feel good about ourselves.

That desire for justification is rooted in our sin and the guilt and condemnation we carry.

Deny it all you want, but when you lay your head down at night what thoughts keep you awake?

There is a sense of condemnation/guilt that lives in all of us outside of Christ.

Dead, Enslaved, Condemned…BUT GOD!

The great BUT in all of the bible and all of human history.

Who we ARE/CAN BE in Christ.

Yes we were dead in our trespasses and sin, but in Christ we are MADE ALIVE.

Not because of our own efforts, but because of the rich mercy and great love of God .

In Ezekiel 37, we get a mental picture of what God does to those who trust in Him.

The prophet is brought by the Lord into the middle of a valley that was full of dry, dead bones.

God asks Ezekiel “Can these bones live? Are they able to come to life?”

Ezekiel’s answer “God, only you know.” a much better answer than I would give.

Then God tells Ezekiel to prophesy over these bones.

Ezekiel 37:7–8 CSB

7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

How amazing would that be.

God then tells Ezekiel to prophesy over the bones that breath would enter their newly formed lungs and they would live.

Ezekiel 37:10 CSB

10 So I prophesied as he commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army.

If you have come to faith in Christ you likely resonate with this picture.

Whether it was a season or a moment, there comes a time when what once was dead inside our hearts comes to life in a way that can only be attributed to God.

That is the wonder and beauty of the Gospel as Paul presents it here.

No dead person will ever be able to bring life back to his lifeless body.

BUT GOD!!

Yes we were enslaved by sin, but in Christ we have been SAVED.

By God’s grace, the favor He shows even though we do not deserve it, we have been saved out of the bondage of trying to satisfy the desires of the flesh.

By God’s grace, we can fight against the schemes of the devil.

By God’s grace and through His Spirit we can see through the brokenness and lostness of the dying world around us, and be freed from the slavery of cultural compliance.

Yes we were CONDEMNED because of our sin, but in Christ we have been redeemed and rewarded.

We are saved by His grace, and then we are raised up and seated with Christ in the heavens.

We are set free from the need to justify ourselves through hard work, success, acceptance, or popularity.

In Christ we are no longer living under the condemnation of our sin.

Romans 8:1 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,

I imagine in these words a parent or grandparent showing off pictures of there kids, talking about who they are and what they have accomplished in life.

God doesn't tolerate you, He celebrates you.

He knew what He was buying, that why the cost was so steep.

Your seat at his table is a result of the amazing Grace of Jesus.

If you are in Christ there is a seat for you in the heavenlies with Christ.

And God is a proud dad who raises up his children up.

We are His workmanship, His works of art, molded and shaped through all of the struggles and successes we face in life, to be used by Him for the good of others.

We can only understand the true magnitude and magnificence of the cross when we understand how desperate we were without it.

My prayer is for God to open hearts and open eyes this morning.

Maybe realizing for the first time just how desperate and broken your life is without Christ. The invitation God give is free…trust in Jesus, receive Him as the Savior and King of you life.

Or maybe today has been a reminder of just how incredible God’s grace and mercy truly are. The invitation for you is to not lose sight of it again.