From Death to Life

Paul begins chapter 2 by complete the comparison he began in chapter 1…

The concluding verses of chapter 1 say -

Ephesians 1:20–23 “20 He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens—21 far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way.”

Jesus has been raised from the dead, He was sat in authority over all things in this life and the one to come… everything on earth is under His authority

Here is the comparison - Jesus is over EVERYTHING but we are a different story…

Ephesians 2:1–10 CSB

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, 5 made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.

Remember who you were without Jesus.

We were dead… spiritually dead and apart from God

Trespass - to fall by the wayside, make a false step or failure compared the will and law of God

Sin - to act contrary to the will and law of God, to engage in wrong doing.

We all lived according to the ideology of the world which listens to the devil

We followed our flesh and our evil thoughts

Each one of us lived under God’s judgement

Then we come to 2 of the best words in all of Scripture… BUT GOD

God stepped in to fix what we could not.

God loves us so much that instead of wrath He poured out His mercy

We were dead, dead people cannot do anything

It takes someone who is alive to help the dead

Jesus who defeated sin and death made us alive again.

Jesus has taken us from death to life

Live from grace and not for it.

We are saved by God’s grace

There is nothing we could do to save ourselves

Stop striving too prove your worth to God… we obey because we are saved NOT to get saved.

Grace is not a one time gift… we must live in continual dependance on God’s grace

Live out your new identity and purpose in Christ.

We were not save to sit and soak

There is a purpose to what Jesus has done for us and in us

God has designed your life with purpose - our work, our service become our testimony

Our conduct should match our confession… live in a way that demonstrates that we have been transformed.