THE GREATEST GIFT

intro

Hey everyone! (intro self, stall etc)  i wanted to start tonight off with a question. Whats the best gift someones ever given you?

For me it was actually probably this computer rn (share a story)

But today. Were gonna talk about a gift we all can get, thats immeasurably better then any of that. So open your bibles with me to the book of ephesians.

( HIGH SCHOOL talk about ephesians for 4-5 minutes for highschool give context )

(MIDDLE SCHOOL,  this is a letter from an apostle named paul to a church in a place called epusus, to encourage them and help them in their journey as christians)

So we finally made it through the first chapter of the book! If you have been joining us for our monday morning bible study JAD you know thats a big accomplishment for us.

So were in ephesians chapter 2. And im gonna cover verses 1-10 but im gonna do it in a interesting order. Not straight through so if you have your bibles open them with me to verse 10

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

We are Gods handiwork. The greek here is Poema. Were we get our english poem from. So paul here is communicating that us. Humans, saints, christians, are Gods Poem. Gods creation. Gods creativity at play. Another translation for poema is MASTERPEICE.

So paul is stating that the church. And by extention us. Are GOD PRIZED CREATION.

The psalmist says.

Know that the Lord is God.

It is he who made us, and we are his;

It says he created us for GOOD WORKS which he has prepared for us in advanced.

Its a reminder of Jeremiah 29:11 when the prophet Jerimaiah is talking about the whole of israel. God says to his people

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This is an echo of that verse. But you see that verse in jeremiah isnt speaking of the individual. Its speaking of the corporate israel, so paul takes that statement. And personalizes it. So each of us INDIVIDUALLY has a good work God has set out for us before we were born

So God created you. And he has a intention to use your life for something GOOD.

Ok have any of you ever MADE something and had it messed up or broken?

I remember when i was 16 and spending some time with my brother in california.

And there was a Girl down there who i was SUPER into (she ended up being crazy but thats besides the point)

So i was with my friend josh staying the night at his house. And were just messing around. And we decide. “ oh yk what would for sure get her to like you… we write a love song”

So we stay up until like 3 in the Morning composing a MASTERPEICE of a song it was like mozart level it was beautiful. And we put ALOT of effort into this song.

that all happened on a friday. So that sunday after church i decide is the best time to unveil our creation to her.

So josh hops on the piano. I grab a mic. (my brother was the worship pastor so i had acces to all of this)  and my other friend bryan goes and tells her to come into the sanctuary.

And guys. Singing is not my area of expertise. Its sort of like a dying giraff trying to cliing to life.

So im on stage. Nerves are running wild. Im sweating. My heart is pounding. The door opens. Josh plays the first note…. And i sing. I sing my HEART out. She stands there awkwardly. And we finish the song. Then. SHE LAUGHS AND RUNS OUT.

Guys i was crushed. My Boy Josh and me walk back to his place. We listen to some juice wrld and the rest of the story is for another day. But. this thing. This song that i created. Was destroyed and ruined. Right in front of me. I had worked hard on it. And i was crushed.

So if we are Gods poem. Gods masterpeice. Gods song. If God has put himself. His image. His SPIRT inside of us. A question we all have to ask ourselves is. Have we been destroyed? If we go back to ephesians. We see. Yes

So lets look at the beginning of verse 2

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

So theres alot to unpack in that verse.

Paul Says were DEAD in our transgressions and Sins. in our wrong doings.

This is a jewish saying that was used often to describe people who while alive. Are so deep in Sin that They are doomed to Death. Because of the depth of there sin

It was used to be descriptive of the worst of the worst. The murderers the sexualy imoral. Etc

So Paul takes that common phrase. And uses it to be descriptive of ALL OF US

Paul says in his letter to the romans that we hav ALL sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God

Guys if i were to sit here and give you an itemized list of all the ways ive sinned wed be here for hours,

We Are ALL sinners. I promise you.

When we look back at the old testament we see that sinners are sentenced to DEATH, and thats what we deserve. All of us.

WE HAVE ALL SINNED

Now sin simply just means Missing the mark. Missing the mark of Gods comandment.

It means knowing the comands and desires of Gods will. And going agenst them. So yes. We have all missed the mark.

Even the church in epesus we see miss the mark. This is a church that paul is exhorting! A church that paul LOVES and is doing great.

But we see later on when the apostle John is wring to them in revelation

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. “

So we have ALL missed GODS mark for our life

(maybe cut next part for middle school” We are all sentenced to Death. We are all, doomed to be frank. Its the seriousness of the human condition.

God has made his commands abundantly clear for us and we have disregarded them. We are his workmanship. And we have been destroyed. Corrupted. By the devil or as paul says “the ruler of the kingdom of the air”

We have succumbed to the cravings of our flesh.

We are Gods masterpeice. And we have been destroyed. In front of him. We were created for Good works and we have done nothing but Bad works.

We are the image of God as we see in genesis. Gods magnum opis his master peice and we carry his very essence, his image, inside of us. And we the Devil. Hates us for it. And corrupted all of us.

Paul again writes in romans For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

So this all seems hopeless right. We all suck lol

People have known this for along time. Not just christians, all religions. All philosophies. They all recognize the courpution of the human condition and as many of us do. They all set out to answer. “Is there anything we can do”

Well we as christians have answered that question.

NO

No we cannot

There is nothing WE can do about our condition. Our sickness.

There is however, something HE did.

A gift you could say.

Paul tells us about this. Sandwich right between us being dea din our sins and us being Gods workmanship. Is this beutiful passage

Read eph 2:4-9 with me

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 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.For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I mean i could preach on this for hours.

So there Nothing we can do to fix our human condition

We are not only deserving of death we ARE dead. In sin

But God rich in mercy, loving us, deeply, as his workmanship…

Makes us alive in Christ.

Christ, God in the flesh, when he died. Saved us from our sickness of sin

It is BY GRACE. By the GRACE OF GOD. that he sent his son  Jesus so that THROUGH FAITH. We might be RAISED UP WITH CHRIST. AND HAVE ENTERNAL LIFE

We are saved. Our form. Our image barrer status, has been restored. Through the grace of God.

This is the Greatest Gift we have ever received

The free gift of Life.

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

(expand for highschool)

But its through faith.

We must believe. Trust. And follow him. Its by grace. THROUGH faith

So that NO ONE may boast