We Were Dead

This is my favorite passage in Scripture and it has been since I read it for the first time my freshman year of high school. This passage will make you feel special, and we all love to feel special! It talks about how and why God saves his children. It’s good news! Better than I understood before I read it the first time!

Verse 4 is the turning point…

Christians are a people who were spiritually dead, but God brought us to life by grace through faith to show his glory.

Read Eph 2:1-10 and pray

What we were

We were dead.

verses 1-3

Romans 5:12 ESV

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

You’ve got to understand where you were to fully appreciate what God did!

I always appreciated that we had never had a run in with a skunk, but a few weeks ago my appreciation for that grew exponentially. Because we had a run in with a skunk. Our dumb little bug eyed crazy dog Leia got hit not once but twice in one week…

I didn’t realize how awful it was. Now that I understand how bad and how strong that smell is, I am way more appreciative of every day that we don’t have an interaction with a skunk!

We have to understand how bad off we were and how incapable of doing anything we were to fully appreciate what God did.

What God did

God brings dead sinners to spiritual life.

verses 4-9

We are saved by grace through faith. Grace is the basis for our salvation and faith is the instrument of our salvation. Think of it like this: playing baseball or softball, what’s the quickest way to score a run? A homer. On what basis do you get the run? The ball going over the fence. What instrument do you use to get the ball over the fence? The bat. So the basis of the home run is the ball leaving the yard and the instrument is the bat.

You are saved on the basis of God’s grace by the means of faith!

v7

Ephesians 1:12 ESV

so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

This week’s Christian vocab

mercy – not receiving the punishment we deserve

grace – receiving a the gift of salvation that we can not attain ourselves in any way

faith – belief and trust in God’s Word and work

v9

Titus 3:5 ESV

he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,

So He has done this great work in us…

What we do

Now that we’re alive, we need to live as who we are.

verse 10

Masterpiece. Work of art. Hang it in The Louvre! Think about what this means for us. We are people who want to be beheld. Looked upon. Why do you think social media is so huge? God is going to put us on display, well put his glory on display through us! We seek this out, but in the wrong places. Just be patient, God is going to do it in his Kingdom forever!

Until then, in this life, walk in the good works He has prepared for you.

Look at the contrast of verse 9 to verse 10. We didn’t work, He worked. But once He has done the work in us, then He has work for us to do.

1 Thessalonians 2:12 ESV

we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

We look in his word to see generally what these good works are. We are to love God and love people. We do these things in the way He has told us to. Then we take that wisdom and apply it to our lives to do the good works He’s prepared specifically for us.

Be sure that you understand here that we are not being called to good works to be saved, we are called to good works and we should do them because we have been saved! I read somewhere that good works are the fruits of salvation, not the roots!

Christian let this truth wash over you! You were spiritually dead but the God of the universe loves you with such a great love that He sent his Son to save you and bring you to life! Live in that victory! Feel that joy!

If you are not a Christian, you are still dead in your sins and trespasses. But God! He has made a way for you to be made alive with Jesus. If you will call on Him, put your faith in Him, you can receive that saving grace tonight!