A Faith From God

Text: Ephesians 2:8-9

Central Idea of the Text: The very grace and faith by which we are saved are not our own doing. They are the gifts of God.

Proposition: From beginning to end, our salvation is grace upon grace: “Glory to God!”

Purpose: All hearers should turn from their sin and self-righteousness, trusting in Christ fully for salvation.

Last week as we kicked off the sermon, we talked about Santa, lists, and getting the things we actually deserve. While reflecting on that angle of Christmas and the Christian Faith, I was reminded of a long time complaint regarding Christmas that I have. And since I’m the pastor and I have the microphone, I’m going to file a Christmas complaint, and you’re going to have to sit here and listen to it because you are sitting at the temporary desk of the Christmas complaint department. So here you go:

I was raised in a Christian home. My dad was a pastor, and my mom the great pastor’s wife. I was taught all the right things. I knew way better than any other kid in my class what right and wrong is. I could name the 10 commandments and all the books of the bible. I took my vitamins and said my prayers, just like Daniel and Hulk Hogan. So … WHY IS IT … that when we are on this entire kick of be good so you can get some good presents at Christmas, that SOMEHOW the other heathen kids, that are way worse than me, end up with the most presents and the coolest stuff?? I mean I was absolutely blessed to get 2 He-Man figures, but three other dudes in my class who cuss more than me, lie more than me, are way meaner than me and have made 3x as many trips to the principal’s office than me … those little monsters got a Castle Greyskull, He-Man & Skeltor with Battle damage armor, Battlecat, the Battleram, Beastman, Merman, Man-at-arms, trapjaw, man-e-faces and the attack trak. I mean, what the heck!

It feels good to get that off my 10 year old chest, but it also reminds me of the idea of lists and the types of measurement and comparison that the holidays seem to invite, because of the moral spirit connected to gifts that we sometimes adopt. The game that we play is a game called comparison. It can at times be fun if we are trying to feel better about ourselves. We say things like, well I may be bad, but I’m not as bad as that guy. But it may also lead us to Covet, a wanting what we don’t have, rather than appreciating what we’ve been given. And it may lead us to perpetual disappointment, because we really think that the good stuff that we do is supposed to earn us good stuff here and now. And it may even lead us to believe that I do the good stuff, I get the good stuff in the life to come. All that we get that is good then becomes about about me, me, me.

But Christmas and it’s true meaning and gifts remind us at their core that what God has given can’t be earned, and it’s not about my goodness. It’s about my need. Today’s text, and the next gift of Christmas remind us of this. Let’s look at another big gift in a small package, found in Ephesians 2:8-9.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

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.

This is the word of the Lord and the third gift of Christmas for us this morning.

Please pray with me: Lord God, thank you for your glorious words of Life. We thank you that you have spoken through apostles and prophets, and especially through your Son Jesus. Lord, lead us from our games of comparison, better than, and striving to work to earn our salvation. May we see that salvation is ours full and free, and even the faith that we claim this day is truly a gift from you. Guide our time in your word today. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.

During this season, we are talking about a few short verses which speak to God’s giving and God’s gifts. We saw that the giving we celebrate, spoken of so concisely in John 3:16, is initiated by our God who gave his son, born out of his great love for the world. We saw last week (in Romans 6:23) that the initial gift of Jesus is given for the purpose of giving the free gift of God, which is Eternal Life. Paul wrote that this Eternal Life comes through Christ Jesus. But again, as we have also noted the past two weeks, that gift is not simply a glib passing gift, something like opening the next package with a flannel shirt or set of tea towels in it. The gift of Jesus & His salvation is meant to be ultimately connectional and transformational toward US. That’s why we need today’s verse in connection with the other two, being reminded that the message and person of Jesus is not to be believed in passing, but to be received and held in connection with you and I. How will these gifts of Jesus and His Salvation intersect with our lives? Today’s gift verse answers:

What am I getting for Christmas? A Train.

This verse is not on it’s face (of course) a Christmas verse. But when this verse comes to bear on your life? Then Christmas becomes more than just a passing season, and Easter become more than a day to hide the eggs and eat some ham. Everyday becomes a holiday (holy day) because Jesus is present and working in your life. His salvation has arrived, and you get to live in light of it. And that is why we need this train.

“Train? Hold on! I love trains! But I did not see the train in this verse.” Now just so you know, I’m not talking about a literal train, but I’m talking about three connected words that function together as one unit. The train is spoken of by Paul when he says in verse 8: “THIS is not your own doing”. And when he says “IT is the gift of God”, he is talking about the train of three key words that begin verse 8: Grace, Saved, Faith. Let’s take a closer look at those three and how they intersect with each other.

The middle word is saved, translated from the Greek Sozo. This is again the salvation that we were speaking of last week, as we spoke of Eternal Life. The implication of sozo is that there is something threatening the subject’s life with death or doom. They needed to be rescued from it. The scriptures are fully clear that there is an eternal death, the wages of sin, the payment that is due for all of humanity in hell. Again, that is the default of where ANY of us are headed. The opposite that God offers is eternal life, what Jesus spoke of when he said that he was the “Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:35) Understand then that this being saved is both a saving from something and a saving TO something.

The first word, in front of saved, is the word Grace, or Charis in the Greek. It is related to the same word that we saw back in Romans 6:23, the free gift of God. It speaks to God’s attitude and action toward mankind, especially when it comes to dealing with the sin problem that we have. The preceeding verses in Ephesians 2 describe our problem: “We were dead in trasses and sins.” We were “following the prince of the power of the air (Satan). We were “living according to the desires of our flesh.” We were “by nature children of wrath.” That is default position for us all, headed on (as ACDC sang) the Highway to Hell. But look at verse 4: “BUT GOD”. That, my friends is the biggest but in the Bible, because it means that God was not content to leave us there. Paul says that God was both “rich in mercy” (v4) and he saved us by grace (v5). He did so by making us alive together with Christ. Did we deserve things things??? NO! That was clear last week. To get what we deserve, that would be death. To get what we don’t deserve, eternal life, that is the Best life. Mercy and Grace then are the two sides of the same salvation coin that speak to God’s kindness and character expressed in Jesus. To not get what I do deserve, that is mercy. To get the thing that I don’t deserve, that is grace.

The third/last word, but by no means the least important word is Faith, the word Pistis in the Greek. It is the noun of the verb that we have discussed with regard to belief. As we hold a belief, it is to us a noun; as we practice and follow in belief, it becomes a verb. As I said the last two weeks, faith is meant to affect heart, head and hand. The object of that belief as we have seen in all of these gifts is Jesus Christ. To have faith is defined as essential in Hebrews 11:

Hebrews 11:1 “1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Hebrews 11:6 “6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

And note what the faith of every one of the biblical heroes of that book produces: Isaac gives an offering, Noah builds a boat, Abram leaves his homeland, etc. Biblical faith is naturally leading to obedience and response.

There’s much more than time allows me to say about these three words this morning, but I do want us to see how these three form a train. Our salvation is given by the grace of God, through the faith that has been granted. God’s grace is expressed in our salvation and the granting of a faith in Christ that would save. Our faith comes so that we might receive God’s salvation, offered because of his grace. These three are the “it” and the “this” of the second half of the passage.

So what is the point here that Paul is getting at and what am I getting at? It is simply stated this ...

Why am I getting it? Because He > Me.

Look at 8b and 9: “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.” I wanted to do the work of helping you see the connections of the words in the train here to understand the this and the it. “This” (grace/salvation/faith) is not your own doing. “It” (grace/salvation/faith) is the gift of God. “It” (grace/salvation/faith) is not by works, so no one may boast. It is out of this work of God then that verse 10 helps us to see the outworking of God’s grace/salvation/faith in us: Ephesians 2:10 “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Note what the text is not saying here.

I had some great grace for myself. I learned how to forgive myself. And that’s the best grace.

I found a way to forgive my sins and forge my own salvation path.

I found faith that is my own personal faith, and now I can pat myself on the back because I’m a good believer.

I am my own workmanship, my own selfmade holy man, and I do a pretty good job of looking like Jesus in my own way.

That is 100% not what Paul is saying. He is saying that my salvation is not because of me. I was dead in my sins. God raised me up and made me alive in Christ. God gave me grace. God gave me salvation. God gave me the faith to believe in him. And anything good that is being done in me is because of God’s doing it in me. What else do you think Christ means when he says to Nicodemus (in John 3:3) that we must be born again to see the Kingdom of Heaven? Can a child pick their conception? Can an baby choose the day of their birth? No. What we have from God, and that is what Paul is making clear here. Grace is a gift. Salvation is a gift. Faith to see and believe God is a gift. He initiates, I simply respond and receive. God must be the one who gives the gift. It cannot be an earned gift. Because when the gift is earned, it is no longer a gift, but a barter, a trade or a wage.

To some of you, you may think I’m splitting hairs or caught in the weeds, but I’m actually reminding you of the deep truth of your faith and salvation, that these are gifts from God. It is God’s work not ours. When we speak of salvation then, the things we encourage people to do in response are simply outplaying to the work that God has already done and the faith that he has already given. The big word for this study is soteriology, and it is understanding the order and means of our salvation. It is best and most concisely spoken of by Paul in Romans 8:30, and it comes right in the midst of all of those great Romans 8 promises: “There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” “We are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.” In the heart of that chapter, Paul speaks these words of God’s work to save: (Rom 8:30) “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” That verse holds the content of several sermons, but I simply place it before you this morning to say: “Look at what God has done.” He knew you from before you were born, and he knew the contents of all your days from beginning to end. He placed a call before you in the seed of God’s word that’s been scattered upon your heart. He gave his son to die while you and I were sinners, and made that means for our justification by that faith (from HIM) … that our sin would be taken away and Christ’s righteousness would become ours. And that glorification? Its the secure promise of eternal life. ALL of this is God’s work. None of it is ours.

So what are you saying Nate? Do my responses, my words and actions, any of that stuff matter to God? Or is this all just fatalism? Have I no free will? Oh you have a free will alright. And that free will loves to choose sin, because sin, selfishness and pride are the default positions of the heart. The heart that has been saved by Christ has been brought to heel by the will that is freer than our own. God’s will is the freest will, and his will WILL be done because he is sovereign over all.

Paul says in Ephesians 1:11 “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,”

Jesus says in John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

Job recognizes what is true of God in Job 42:2 “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.”

And Paul writes again of Christ in Romans 11:36 “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”

Our God is sovereign and strong. And so, every good thing that we done, even those that we attribute to our faith response to Christ, are produced because the seed of the word has been planted in our hearts and it has become fruitful. We therefore take no credit for the faith that saves; it is a gift from God. As David writes in Psalm 3:8: “Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

Conc:

So today’s verse is small but powerful. It tells of this interconnected train of God’s Grace, getting that which I don’t deserve -> Christ’s Salvation toward us from eternal death to eternal life -> The faith that God produces in us, a gift of belief so that good words and good works may be produced in us. And we have seen how the recognition of this gift produces the proper attitude toward salvation in the believer. He is greater than me. It is not by might or power that salvation comes, but by the faith implanted in us. Remember what Jesus said: “A sower went out to sow some seed.” What was the seed? It was the word of God! Where did it grow and produce a crop? In the soil of the ears that hear the word.

So what on earth does this actually mean for you? What does it mean to know that you are saved by grace through faith? Well, it means everything. Here are three brief biblical examples:

It affects how you see yourself and your salvation: Think about what it meant for Paul, the one who was writing these words. He grew up knowing the Old Testament scriptures. He clearly had a heart devoted to the God of Israel. He had heard of the message preached of what Jesus had done. And yet his free will said: imprison the Christians, dispose of this message of Jesus, make an end of the church. BUT GOD had other plans. Jesus appeared to him on the road in Acts 9, spoke to him, blinded him, told him what he should do. And from there: Paul’s life took a 180 degree turn. But he takes no credit for ANYTHING he does either in his response, obedience, baptism, or ALL the things he does after. He simply says Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

It affects how you pray and worship: In Luke 18, Jesus told the story of two men who went to pray: a Pharisee and a Tax Collector. The Pharisee prayed this way: (Luke 18:11–12)“God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’” Look at me, everyone. Look at the works of my own righteousness and the sins I’ve not committed he said. But the tax collector prayed in the corner this way: (Luke 18:13) “But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’” What is the difference between these two men? Their ability to have their eyes open to see their sin. One is aware of his need. One’s eyes are blinded. The Cross of Christ brings us to kneel and know that our only hope in life and death is through the blood of Jesus applied to our lives. The faith God gives calls us to beg on God’s mercy and praise him for his grace..

It affects how you approach every work you do for the Lord: Jesus told a story in the week before the cross. It was a story of the final judgement and the dividing of the sheep from the goats in Matthew 25. Many of you are familiar with the story, but if not, take some time this week to read and consider it. I simply want to point out something that we see in the character of the goats (those condemned to hell) and the sheep (the saved for God). Both the goats and the sheep are either condemned or commended for their works at the judgement. But this is not because their are saved BY works but for works. The goats feel ripped off by the Lord because their actions missed the mark. Jesus notes the difference with some context of this judgement in Matthew 7:22–23 “On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” They did stuff they thought was good and puffed them up in their own righteousness. But the sheep of Christ’s flock, they humbly cannot even recall or plead their own good deeds before the throne. Matthew 25:37–40 “37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” Those sheep did those works BY faith. And it is indicated in the humility by which they did they did the work.

What makes the difference in all these cases? It is the faith that God gives that does not boast in the self, but in the savior. So on what are you counting: God’s grades or God’s grace? Those who would hear the word of the Lord today would turn from their sin, come in repentance to the Savior, Call Jesus their savior and Lord, they would be baptized in the name of Jesus and seek to walk in obedience to his ways. All of this is granted to us because of the faith that HE gives. We take no credit.

Prayer: Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.