Through Ephesians -03- Used to be Dead

Reading Ephesians 2:1-10

4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5 (NIV)

I. We were Dead! (vv.1-3)

   A.    Spiritually Dead

       1.    “Dead” in the sin we used to “live” in. ?!

       2.    Sin is a liar. It promises to make us feel more alive. It only makes us more dead.

       3.    Compared to what we have now, we weren’t even alive before (is that what our walk with God says to our neighbors who don’t know him - that they don’t really know how to live?)

   B.    Chasing the Death that Runs our life.

       1.    Whether we knew it or not, when we chased our supposed freedom, we were chasing slavery.

       2.    Whether we realized it or not, when we thought we were serving ourselves, we were serving Satan.

       3.    Sins of flesh and mind ([v.3a|bible:Eph 2:3]]) All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. RSV: Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind.

   C.     Sentenced to Death

       1.    Rom 6:23, for the wages of sin is death

       2.    Paul includes us all “you” “they” “we.” We were all in the same boat. (“Like the rest we were by nature objects of wrath.”)

II.    Made Alive by Grace. (vv.4-9)

   A.    Because of God’s great Love and Mercy

       1.    Not because we were such dear little creatures.

       2.    This is all about God’s greatness and the greatness of his love and mercy.

   B.    God put us Over what we were Under

       1.    Did you notice that what we were under in verse 2 we are over by verse 6!

       2.    This is just what happened to Jesus in 1:20-21! In fact it happened to us at the same time it happened to Jesus!

       3.    Get over it! Sin might lie and tell us it rules us. It’s not true! We’re seated with Jesus in the Heavenlies, right now. We and Jesus, we’re in charge now.

           a.    were not perfect, we slip and fall, but we’re no longer slaves to any particular sin. We’re saved from that already?

           b.    That’s not your experience? Are you sure you’re not believing the lie of Satan, rather than the truth of God?

               (1)  We think “I don’t have any power over this sin in my life.” That’s not true. That’s a lie.

               (2)  We’re sitting next to Jesus and He’s got all the power there is! And that power is at work in us (1:18-19!)

   C.    By Grace through Faith

       1.    Oh, it’s not by gritting our teeth and throwing back our shoulders that we are rescued from our slavery to our depravity.

       2.    It’s by God’s grace. We can’t save ourselves, we never could. God’s throws us His life line while we’re drowning in the mire we made.

       3.    We grab on to that life line by faith - trust. We believe that life-line can save us and that we can’t save ourselves - we’re too stuck and we’re sinking fast. But we believe God can do it!

       4.    Forget our puny efforts to hang on to life. Let’s hang on to God’s effort to save our life and pull us out of certain death!

III.   Free to Serve (v.10)

   A.    God’s Art work

       1.    God’s “workmanship” I like “master-piece” better or “Master’s piece.” Yes, nudge the person next to you and say “You’re a real work of art.”

       2.    Art always says something about the artist. Any fool can see the sin in somebody else. Can we see the mark of the artist - the image of God in them.

   B.    (Re)Created in Christ Jesus

       1.    Created in, by, because of, and through Jesus Christ and what he’s done.

       2.    In our unity with him - which we gain through personal worship and worship in the community of faith.

           a.    Jack Hayford - everything about me boils down to one thing: my private worship life with God.

       3.    That personal encounter changes everything about us!

   C.    Made for Better things!

       1.    Not only were we freed from our sin addiction which was killing us, we are freed to actually make a contribution!

       2.    God made us — remade us to be a part of the solution. We now have it in us to do something worthwhile.

       3.    Which God prepared in advance for us to do Each of us has a calling by God and we are responsible to Him for that calling. God made us for His purposes and equipped us with everything we need to do these good works.

The Bottom Line:

Though we were once Dead in Sin we are now Alive for Good!