Foundations of Gratitude part 2

Introduction:

While I introduce this session, I recommend you going ahead and turning to Ephesians 2. Once you are there, please look to your right and left to see if someone beside you could use help getting there.

Zach earlier talked about the basic foundational reasons for thankfulness. Much of these truths are true no matter who you are, Christian and non-Christian alike. You don’t have to be a Christian to see the value in making being thankful in all things, but I want to explore a side of thankfulness that opens up to us when we see Jesus as who He is, and ourselves for who we are.

You see, although we are 100% to be thankful in all things, just as scripture commands us, our thankfulness will never be complete until we center our thankfulness upon Christ, who has given us every spiritual blessing.

It is our salvation, the free gift of God, that we have done nothing to deserve but He still gives it freely to us that our thankfulness must first be found in.

So that is what we are going to talk about in this session. Our salvation. This means we are going to look at our own spiritual condition, God’s response and answer to this condition, and what our response should be to this.

Ephesians 2:1–10 (ESV)

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins

2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

1. Our Condition: Dead in Sin, Separated from God (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Key Point: We were spiritually dead, following the world and our own desires since sin controls us, we are separated from God, unable to save ourselves.

Ephesians 2:1–3 ESV

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Much of the new testament teaches us that sin makes us spiritually dead.

Who can quote Romans 6:23?

Romans 6:23 ESV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Explain spiritual death…..

Before salvation, given by Jesus, we are all dead in our sins. We each walk, not according to the goodness of God, but by the so called morality and goodness of this world. Even that we can not fully do, because nobody can fully live by any of the moral systems we find on earth today. We are dead in our sins, incapable of pleasing God, incapable of doing good, because even the good we do comes from impure, often selfish motives.

Because this, we are unable to save ourselves. Unable to have the relationship with God that He desires to have with us. Our sin separates us from the righteous, Holy, sinless, pure God, who in His perfect goodness, can not even look upon sin. Sin is not something a Righteous God can simply ignore.

So what are we to do?

If I am dead in my sins, unable to save myself, what is my solution?

This solution is not one that you need to come up with, for God has already made a way through Christ.

2. God’s Response: Mercy, Love, and Grace (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Key Point: God, in His love and mercy, acted to save us by making us alive in Christ.

I am about to read verses 4-6 again. While I am reading, I want you to be thinking about if this is something to be thankful for.

Ephesians 2:4–9 ESV

4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

God, in His infinite Mercy and love came down, and while we were spiritually dead, unable to save ourselves, died, making a way to become alive in Him.

That is what takes place upon salvation. We go from dead in our sins, to alive in Christ.

We are given a new identity in Christ Jesus. Where as before, our identity was in ourselves, our sin, our cosmic treason to a Holy God, it is now in Christ.

If you go back a chapter to chapter one, verse 5, you see that we have been adopted as sons.

Galatians 4:7 ESV

7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

This is who I now am, not by my own works, but through what Jesus Christ did on the cross.

There was nothing I could ever have done to deserve the love of God, or His free gift of salvation from my sins.

While we were dead in our sin, christ died for us, not because we deserved it, but becasue His grace and mercies are far greater than anything I could ever imagine.

So what should our response to this salvation be?

This leads us to our last point…

3. Our Response: Gratitude and Purpose in Christ (Ephesians 2:10

Key Point: We are saved by grace, not by our works, and we are created for a purpose in Christ.

We find this in verse 10.

Ephesians 2:10 (ESV)

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

I fear we often look at this as a transaction between us and God.

God died for me, so I should now live for Him and do good works. It’s the least I can do right?

I don’t think this is a good way of looking at this though.

We don’t do good works to pay Him back for saving us.

We don’t express constant gratitude for His sacrificial love out of a cosmic debt we now owe.

No, He saved us to turn us into his workmanship for works that God prepared in eternity past.

We have been made a new creation, and this creation was created for good works. It is the natural fruit or sign of our salvation.

Part of these good works is showing a heart of gratitude and thankfulness.

We see this in 1st Thessalonians 4:17-18

1 Thessalonians 5:17–18(ESV)

17 pray without ceasing,

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Because we have been adopted by God and made a new creation, we are able to do this.

So I urge you all, go out today, this week, and the rest of your lives with a visible show of gratitude in all things, because you have faith and trust in your one true savior.

If you are sitting here and you don’t yet know Jesus as your savior, I urge you to not go back to your cabin today without first talking with someone about this. It can be me, or any number of these leaders here today. I want you to know Jesus the way I do. I want you to be free from the cost of sin, and alive in Christ, which brings true and joyous gratitude.

Let’s pray.