Before and After

Anybody like the show Fixer Upper? Or home renovations shows in general?

It’s always interesting to see the couples reactions during the show.

Reality check of what they want and what they can afford…

The first impression of the fixer upper…

The reveal at the end…

Ephesians 2:1-10 is basically a before and after picture of a follower of Jesus Christ.

This morning we’re going to look at where everyone is before they follow Christ, what what a person looks like after they believe in Christ and become one of His followers.

As disciples, we need to realize that salvation is more about what we have been saved for than what we have been saved from.

Ephesians 2:1–3 “And you were dead (worthless, disconnected from life in God, powerless to rise above) in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked (more than one time thing, this was our overarching way of life), following the course of this world (Paul is presenting to spheres that we live in: the way of the world and the way of Christ. The course of the world is a system that refuses to consider what God wants), following the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience (sons of thunder, son of encouragement, sons of disobedience is the main characteristic of our life before Christ—we live in disobedience to God) — among whom we all (not just them, but us also) 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.”

Before Christ we are slaves to our own sinful desires, unable to free ourselves.

Paul wants us to understand the seriousness of our condition if we are not “in Christ”.

You trapped in a dead spin of disobedience — and you can’t get out of it. You are out of control.

Death is not only your final destination, but it is your current situation. A life without God is dead. It’s hopeless. It’s exhausting. It is the hopeless pursuit of enough. And there is no such thing as enough without God.

Think about the world we live in — evil in every news broadcast, our suicide rate, addiction culture (alcohol, drugs, pornography), injustice, disease, and physical death. Dire poverty of over 1 billion people in the world; war; terrorism, etc… death is the best word we have, but it doesn’ really begin to scratch the surface of this cursed world we live in.

Ephesians 2:4–7 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us (the motivation for our salvation is not found in us but God. For some inconceivable reason, God loves us in spite of our sinfulness.), even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive (the transformation from death to life) together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him (This making alive is referring to what happens when the Holy Spirit comes into a person at the moment of salvation. This is the same as the seal of the Spirit from 1:3 and what Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 3:6 when the Spirit makes us alive.) and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Paul is pulling from 1:20, just as Christ was raised and seated, you are as well when you are made alive in Christ. You get everything Christ has. We don’t understand all of that. But we are raised to life and we are in some spiritual sense with God just as close as Jesus is seated at His right hand.), so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

After Christ, we are freed from sin and death for a life far greater than we can possibly imagine.

Paul wants us to see that if Christ has died to pay the price for our sins, and now we are raised to life and seated with Christ, — if that is what He has already done — imagine what else awaits us not only when we see Christ in heaven one day, but what He will do through us while we remain here in this life.

Ephesians 2:8–10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith (This passage is one of the most concise presentations of the Gospel. It is by God’s grace alone that we are saved. But that grace is received through faith. We want to be careful here, some had attributed our definition of faith as a work that we do, but it is not. Us placing our faith in Christ is us admitting our inability and our need.

Robert Picirilli states that “Faith is holding up empty hands to God to receive a gift offered entirely by grace. It is looking away from one’s own ability or resources and looking entirely to God to provide salvation. Faith is, by implication, a renunciation of one’s own powers to save himself, an acknowledgement of one’s own helplessness and absolute need for God to save. Faith must not be made, by some semantic game, a work.

When Steve and Trisha first moved down here, they wanted to change out the lights in their kitchen. They had two fluorescent lights And they wanted four circle leds. I had installed lights before, so I thought, no big deal, I can do this.

I hooked everything up, flipped the breaker, and nothing happened. Hmm. Let me try something else, nothing. One more try, the breaker said no thank you and tripped immediately. I mapped out all of the wiring. What came from the breaker, what went to this switch and the other switch, and how all the other lights were hooked up.

I still had no idea what was going on. The color used for hot was not hot, the color used for neutral was not neutral. Whoever hooked it up knew what the wires meant, but I did not. So I called dad. I sent him a picture of everything. He looked it over, drew me a picture and said hook everything up like this. So I did that. Guess what, the lights worked.

Now I don’t get to claim credit for it. I played with the wires and did the twisty tying, but my dad told me what to tie in where and what to hook up.

The same is true of our salvation. We just do what God tells us to do in response to what He has done. Believe in me. Surrender yourself to me. And we are saved.

While it is not our ability or our work, it falls on us to respond.

8b…And this (Some mistakenly believe that “this” or “that” is referring to faith as if the faith we place in God is a gift. This is where English loses the translation notes that greek places. The word translated “this” or “that” here is referring to the whole statement that has been made. It is not referring to faith specifically, but that the transformation that moves us from death to life is solely done by God.) is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (God reveals Himself to everyone. He uses His Word to make clear Who He is and what Christ has done for us. He reveals the Gospel. He reveals our sin to us. And then and only then are we given something to respond to. Again our only response is “help”.). For we are his workmanship (poem, art, masterpiece…We are God’s work of art now. We are created into this new image that we may reflect God’s glory. Just like every piece of art reflects glory to the artist who made it, we point to and bring glory to God, not ourselves.), created in Christ Jesus for good works (It is no accident that Paul uses creation language here. When we reach up to receive what God has given, we become a new creation. God recreates us. God regenerates us in response to our cry for help.), which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ultimately we see what we are saved from and what we are saved for.

After Christ, we are freed from sin and death for a life far greater than we can possibly imagine.

We are saved from sin for good works.

If indeed we are a masterpiece created by God for His glory, the question is are we reflecting that glory?

We almost think of ourselves too much as a work of art. We pray and prayer and “get saved” and now we are a static piece of art.

Art doesn’t just sit in a museum forever with no human interaction. As it sits, it will naturally deteriorate. Colors will fade, paint will crack, the canvas or frame can become damaged over time. Accidents happen, vandals actually purposefully damage works of art. Outside forces such as temperature and light can damage a painting over time.

Art has to constantly be restored to continue to fully reflect the glory of the artist. In fact it is a shame for those who care for artworks to let them fall into a sad shape.

You are a work of art created by God to do something. You were created to reflect His glory in how you live. You were created to share with others Who He is that they may become one of His masterpieces as well.

Are you free from sin?

Are you living free from sin?

Are you living in the good works that God has prepared for you?