From the God of Afton
Notes
Transcript
ME: A gift for a need we didn’t know we had, who’s it from?
ME: A gift for a need we didn’t know we had, who’s it from?
This may seem like an odd topic,
But I’d like to talk about canker sores to start this morning.
As far back as I can remember,
As a child growing up, through high school, and through college,
I would get chronic canker sores.
I had canker sores more often than I did not.
I use to get that numbing stuff to put on canker sores and it killed trying to administer it.
I would just get it everywhere, then my whole mouth was numb, and it tasted disgusting.
I brushed my teeth every day and my dentist thought it could be stress related.
Which I thought was strange because I never really felt that stressed.
Well, I can’t remember if it was the first or second year after Stephanie and I were married,
But my mother and father in law got me one of those Philips Sonicare toothbrushes for Christmas.
Now that is a toothbrush, I never would have bought myself.
But they each had their own and had already experienced the benefit of using it.
Because of their experienced benefit, they gave this toothbrush as a gift for me.
So, I began using it and didn’t think much of it.
But after using it for a while, it dawned on me, that I hadn’t gotten a canker sore since I started using that toothbrush.
I had no idea that the root of my canker sore problem was from using a generic toothbrush.
But my mother and father in law recognized a need I had.
And gave me a gift that they experienced the benefit of.
By putting that gift to use, I experience a deliverance of sorts, from a predicament I had.
Now, this is not an advertisement for Philips Sonicare.
I am seeking to illustrate our passage this morning,
Ephesians 2:1-10, From the God of Afton.
In vs. 1-3, we see that death leaves us in need
Then in vs. 4-7 we see that life is the gift that saves
And we see in vs. 8-9 that this gift, it is from the God of Afton.
At the very end, vs. 10 calls us to walk in the works of Salvation.
The past two weeks have been run-on sentences in Greek,
Our passage this morning is not as bad, it is two run-on sentences
vs. 1-7 are one sentence
and vs. 8-10 are a second sentence
The main thought is spread throughout vs. 4-6
The subject is these verses we see at the beginning of vs. 4, God
And if we were to peel back all the adjectives and look solely at the verbs, the actions of God,
We see in vs. 5, He made us alive,
And in vs. 6, He raised us up and seated us.
So the main thought is “God…made us alive…raised us up…and seated us.”
But notice, these are not isolated actions.
No, all of them are followed by our union with Christ
vs. 5 He made us alive together with Christ
vs. 6 He raised us up with Christ and seated us with Christ
This main thought flows out of the central statement, which is vs. 5
That we were dead in our sin,
And God made us alive with Christ.
You have been saved by grace.
Not only is this the central statement,
It is also the climax of our passage
This is the gift that you have been given from the God of Afton.
It is a practical demonstration of the limitless power of God.
And it is at work in His Church.
So, would you join me in prayer as we prepare to look at this gift from the God of Afton in Ephesians 2:1-10 this morning.
PRAY
Jeremy Bentham (Merida)
Ephesians 1:19-20 (Merida)
WE: Death Leaves us in Need (vs. 1-3)
WE: Death Leaves us in Need (vs. 1-3)
Let’s begin our time in the Word this morning seeing how Death Leaves us in Need in Ephesians 1:1-3
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
One commentary I read on Ephesians shares a story about this 18-19th century philosopher, Jeremy Bentham
He is credited with the utilitarian school of thought
This principle that every person will live according to their greatest happiness
Like many philosophers, he was a rather eccentric character.
Apparently, in his will he left a considerable sum of money to the London Hospital.
But he included a condition, that he would be present at every board meeting.
So reports indicate that for over 100 years, they obliged, wheeling in the remains of Jeremy Bentham
And recording in the minutes that “Mr. Jeremy Bentham was present but not voting.”
This illustrates our existence on a spiritual plane according to Paul in this passage.
We are present in this world, yet without Christ we are spiritually dead.
We see this displayed in physical death
This universal experience for all humans
We’re all gonna die
Paul begins this section of his letter as blunt as can be,
You were dead!
Later, in Ephesians 4:18 he’ll say we are alienated from the life of God.
Here in vs. 3, he says we all once lived in this death!
See, at the end of vs. three, he states clearly, our very nature is to be children of wrath.
And no one is exempt of this, Paul says this is the nature for all mankind.
The reference to “this world” in vs. 2 communicates this direct opposition to God.
From our birth, we have a proclivity toward active rebellion against God.
We have inherited this nature as children of Adam.
We are morally unable to do what is good.
Unrestrained, we live in complete disregard and disobedience of God.
We are subjects to the rule of the enemy.
And we aren’t able to change this nature on our own.
Our nature does not come from something outside us, it is from within us.
This leaves us vulnerable to God’s just wrath.
In Rom. 11:24 Paul illustrates our nature as that of the nature of branches on a wild olive tree.
He uses the same word to describe our nature from our passage this morning.
He teaches that salvation to us Gentiles is like wild branches being grafted onto a cultivated tree which is contrary to our nature.
Meaning, on our own, we grow wild and unruly.
Until we are saved, then we are literally cut-off, separated from what our nature is.
And we are attached to a cultivated tree, a refined tree.
Than we continue to grow in a cultivated manner, a way that is contrary to our nature.
It’s important to recognize this
In contrast to the messages our world communicates
That completely contradict this reality, right?
The world says, humans make mistakes, but overall we’re good.
I mean any country fans probably know the song by Luke Bryan
That says, “I believe people are good.”
Yea, people can do amazing things in this world, and every person is valuable because we are made in the image of the almighty God.
But spiritually, we can do nothing because of this sin nature.
Because of what, despite Luke Bryan sings, people are not inherently good.
This is what Paul is making abundantly clear in these verses.
In vs. 2, he points out how we followed the world, and the prince of the power of the air, and in vs. 3, we followed the passions of our flesh.
Instead of following God.
Let me ask you, do you think Paul is getting carried away in these verses?
My assumption is you would say of course not, it’s God’s Word!
And you are absolutely right, that Paul is accurately painting the condition of mankind and the destructive nature of sin,
The complete depravity of humanity,
Our total inability for life and goodness apart from God.
We are plagued by sin, it infects us entirely, all our faculties are cursed.
And it leaves us in great need.
But keep in mind, Ephesians 1:1, this is written to the saints.
This explains why Paul is speaking in the past tense in vs. 1-3.
You were dead
in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.
the you refers to the Gentiles, since Paul is Jewish
But down to vs. 3 he includes Jews and Gentiles,
among whom we all once lived.
We were by nature children of wrath.
Paul is reminding us of our past.
And it is not a pleasant reminder
This is the Great Physician’s diagnosis,
Outside of Christ, you are spiritually dead
So why is Paul writing this to believers?
Because we need this reminder!
Why?
Look at what Paul speaks of in the present tense in this section,
vs. 2, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
the spirit of this prince of the power of the air is presently at work
Seeking to produce children of disobedience.
air is understood as the realm where evil spirits dwell
The prince would be the ruler or leader of these evil spirits.
Meaning this refers to Satan.
In Gal. 4:3 he describes us as enslaved to the elementary principles of the world
and in Col. 1:13 describes believers as being delivered from the domain of darkness
This is introducing a topic Paul explores further in chapter 6,
Spiritual warfare.
Ephesians 6:12 tells us
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
We are to presently wrestle against this prince of the power of the air
We wrestle against Satan,
What does this wrestling look like?
I think the song Indwelling Sin by Lecrae portrays this well in an artistic way
It shows this back and forth, internal wrestling between yourself and this spirit at work in vs. 2
this spirit introduces himself in the song as “the one you used to call your friend.”
Later in the song, the spirit continues saying, “you know when me and you get together we have a grand time.”
He goes on to list out past memories, describing it as “innocent fun”
The entire time, the artist wrestles against this spirit
Responding to the spirit with statements of truth such as, “you always get me caught in sin.”
“I ain’t trusting you.”
“I live by the Spirit so I don’t gratify all them old sinful desires that never satisfy.”
In one last ditch attempt this wicked spirit says, “man you know you miss them old days.”
And the artist responds;
“Yeah, your right, possibly. But after that I sober up and think of Jesus holding up. His skin up on the cross for all them drunken nights I’m throwing up. Every thought of blowing up is captured in his flowing blood. So I start thinking Philippians 4:8 when you start showing up.”
Philippians 4:8 says;
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
He is demonstrating wrestling against Satan and his spirits.
I believe that is also why Paul is writing this to Christians
Satan wants us to remember the good ol’ days
As if a life of sin was more satisfying than life in Christ.
Paul is saying that could not be further from the truth!
A life of sin is death, disobedience, and deserving of wrath.
So those memories Satan offers are a facade.
Thy are sweetened poison.
Wrestle against it, think about the list in Phil. 4:8.
You want to talk about something true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise?
GOD: Life is the Gift that Saves (vs. 4-7)
GOD: Life is the Gift that Saves (vs. 4-7)
Look no further than the gift of life in our next section.
Let’s look at Ephesians 2:4-7 where we see that Life is the Gift that Saves
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Paul started this chapter teaching that human nature leaves all of mankind dead in our sins.
Humanity is without God, hopeless.
This is the darkest, bleakest, most desperate picture imaginable.
Presently, however, is this period of God’s loving patience.
He is leaving the door labeled grace,
Which is the door into His Kingdom wide open at this moment.
You see, before this wrath Paul speaks about in vs. 3 comes.
Is the reality of vs. 4.
Where literally everything is completely transformed
The trajectory of this chapter thus far, of all humanity.
Now goes in the complete opposite direction with two little words.
Two beautiful, precious, and glorious little words, “But God!”
You know how jewelers will present their finest diamonds on black velvet to make the diamond stand out against the backdrop.
Paul similarly drew our attention to the depth and the darkness of mankind’s need in order to magnify the greatness of God’s glorious grace.
God is not responding to the goodness of humanity,
He is acting freely from His great heart of love.
And the riches of His mercy.
He speaks the Word and the dead are made alive!
He regenerates sinners
He renews hearts
He transforms our nature
His gracious gift of life makes us a new creation!
He did this by pouring out that wrath on someone else,
His Son, Jesus Christ.
Because Jesus died and endured God’s wrath
Mankind can live and receive God’s grace.
Grace is central to all of this.
Here in vs. 5, God’s grace is presented simply,
Reiterating his declaration from vs. 1,
Paul states, believers have been saved from death to life.
Grace is settled and determined in God’s heart,
To give us infinite good, though we deserve infinite wrath.
Think about the depth of this grace for a moment.
It is from this grace that flows out this gift of life that saves believers.
{PAUSE}
This work of making a dead soul come to life outlines the biblical doctrine of regeneration.
The significance of regeneration cannot be overstated.
See the Christian life is not about being a better person, or religious routines.
2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
We also see in vs. 10 of our passage this morning that we are created in Christ Jesus.
This is speaking about our new creation, being recreated, being brought from death to life, being regenerated.
Remember in chapter 3 of our study in John last year, the religious Pharisee, Nicodemus, came to Jesus by night with some questions.
As a Pharisee, he already had much head knowledge of God’s Word and religion.
But Jesus told him in John 3:3,
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Being born again is God’s work of regeneration.
It is being a new creation.
And no person is beyond this work of regeneration, the testimony of our author we looked at a few weeks ago, is evidence of this.
I came across one story I’d like to share,
The eighteenth-century evangelist George Whitefield recalled preaching from John 3 openly at this public venue.
A bitter, angry, and hostile man showed up with pockets full of rocks to throw at Whitefield.
After the sermon, the man came up to Whitefield, emptied his pockets and told Whitefield;
“I came to hear you with my pocket full of stones to break your head, but your sermon got the better of me and broke my heart.”
This gospel, that God brings the dead to life through Christ.
Transforms hearts.
Praise God it does!
If you are listening to this and you don’t believe, I plead with you to put your trust in Christ!
Confess you are a sinner, that these vs. in Eph. 2:1-3 are true of you.
And believe that God made you alive in Christ!
It is a gift of God’s grace.
And you will be saved, you will be made alive.
Believers receive this gift of life together with Christ.
Both physical and spiritual life.
We see what this life entails in vs. 6
It includes both a spiritual and physical resurrection of believers with Christ.
And it includes the ascension of believers with Christ.
Just like Paul said in Ephesians 1:20, Christ was raised and seated at the Father’s right hand.
The Gospels record the literal historical account of these events.
Now He is saying believers in Christ receive the same.
He is expressing the union with Christ Christians experience.
He is not saying we are now God, don’t make that mistake.
He is saying we now share in the power over the spiritual forces of darkness.
We no longer have to succumb to the schemes of the enemy.
R.C. Sproul summarizes all the gifts that come with life,
“What can be said of the Redeemer, can now be said of the redeemed.”
What God did in Christ, He does in His Church.
Why would God do such a thing?
Because He is so passionate about His own glory.
He wants to share His glory, but it on display for all to see.
Back in Eph. 1:6 Paul stated that God chose us, predestined us for adoption, for the praise of His glorious grace.
Here, in vs. 7 He says so that in the coming ages he can show this glory.
God saves sinners for His glory,
As many other pastors have stated, believers are trophies of God’s grace.
And His glory will be put on display for all eternity!
His glory described here as the immeasurable riches of His grace and kindness.
This term immeasurable riches speaks of infinite glory.
It was used to describe the greatness of God’s power back in Eph 1:19.
What is amazing is in both 1:19 and 2:7, God is directing His infinite glory.
Look in both passages, it is toward us who believe and toward us in Christ Jesus.
God is pointing His immeasurable riches and greatness,
His infinite grace and power and kindness and glory toward His Church.
Toward the believers who are in Christ Jesus.
Vs. 7 is communicating the purpose behind the gift of life He gives Christians.
It is to share His glory!
Which brings us back to our understanding of God’s grace.
The basis of salvation is God’s love and mercy.
YOU: This Gift is From the God of Afton (vs. 8-9)
YOU: This Gift is From the God of Afton (vs. 8-9)
You did not acquire this gift yourself.
No, this Gift is From the God of Afton.
We see this outlined in Ephesians 2:8-9, look with me;
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
We already explored this grace when Paul mentioned it in vs. 5
But here again he reiterates this point for emphasis.
Life is a gift from the God of Afton.
A gift is given to another without any expectation of reimbursement or reciprocation for the gift.
But the reality is you are saved by this gift.
Let’s talk about this salvation for a moment.
A couple weeks ago, in the men’s study we talked about stages of salvation.
Here we see Paul say you have been saved, that is past tense.
So if you are a believer, you have been saved.
Salvation is attained.
But in 1 Corinthians 1:18 and 2 Corinthians 2:15, look what Paul says about salvation:
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing,
to us who are being saved and among those who are being saved.
Paul, writing to believers in these verses, talks about salvation in present tense
As a process that is happening currently in you.
That you are being saved.
Then again, in Romans 5:9-10, Paul talks about salvation;
Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Twice in these verses Paul says we shall be saved.
Again, writing to believers, Paul is talking about salvation in a future tense.
Meaning, you will be saved.
So it is true and accurate to say if you are a believer,
You have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved.
Pastor Andrew Davis harmonizes this simply with understanding the past tense salvation as justification.
You have been justified.
The present tense salvation is sanctification.
You are being sanctified.
And the future tense salvation is glorification.
When Christ returns and raises your physical body and you reign with Him for all eternity,
You will be glorified.
So it is true to say, you have been saved, you are being saved, and you will be saved.
This salvation travels through the conduit called faith.
If you understand how a conduit works, it is essentially this channel or tube through which a source of power travels.
We have water conduits that use water at a power plant.
Or electrical wiring goes through conduits.
The conduit isn’t the source of power.
You can have conduits lined up all throughout a building, but if the wiring isn’t running through it, your house has no power.
That is how your faith works.
You can have faith for days, but it is not going to give you life, it will not produce this type of power that saves.
The salvation power travels through your faith conduit to power you with spiritual life.
Thus, faith is nothing meritorious,
It is trusting in what Christ has done for you.
In fact, the structure of this vs. communicates that “it” at the end of vs. 9 encapsulates the entirety of salvation
Meaning grace is a gift, and the faith through which it is channeled is a gift.
I believe this is to keep us from believing we are giving God something in return,
As if He is giving us the gift of His grace and we are giving Him our faith.
No, it’s all a gift!
You were dead and God stirred you awake to life.
This gift of life could not be earned, it’s not because of your morality,
it’s not because you are smarter,
or a better looking trophy to display God’s glory,
or because you are more gifted for God to use.
No, it is a miracle of God’s hands.
It is a display of His marvelous grace
He gave His Son in your place,
And He granted you faith to believe in Him as your Savior
We see this in these verses,
Salvation is not by your doing,
It is not a result of your works, Paul says.
Galatians 2:16 affirms;
yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
And what reason does God give for this?
At the end of vs. 9, Paul says, so that you can’t boast about saving yourself.
All boasts are reserved, as we saw earlier, for God.
For His glory that is to be displayed for all eternity!
Immediately after making it clear that your works don’t save you,
We do see in vs. 10 that your works do come as fruit of this gift of life.
So works do have importance for the Christian.
Elsewhere in Scripture we see fruit as evidence of a life in Christ,
For example 1 John 3:7 says;
Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.
This practice of righteousness we see as the good works God prepared beforehand for you to walk in.
In Titus 2:14 Paul says how Jesus gave Himself to redeem from lawlessness people who are zealous for good works.
Later in Titus 3:8, he says that those who believe devote themselves to good works
and again in 3:14 that the people of God would learn to devote themselves to good works.
Remember in vs. 2, you were a son of disobedience
Paul is saying, as a believer, your works demonstrate you are now a child of obedience.
Think about who was the Perfectly Obedient Child?
Jesus Christ.
So, walking in the works of salvation conforms you into the image of Christ.
WE: Walking in Works of Salvation (vs. 10)
WE: Walking in Works of Salvation (vs. 10)
Regarding Walking in Works of Salvation,
Let’s look at our final vs. this morning, 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.
This is a truly beautiful verse.
The Greek word of workmanship is poema
Does that word sound like a familiar English word?
I should, because it is where we get the word, poem.
We are God’s poetry, His creative artwork.
We see this used only one other time in the NT,
Romans 1:20 says;
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
The things that have been made is the word, poema
So in Romans 1, Paul is saying God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been perceived in His poetry, His creative artwork.
Which is all of creation.
Now in Ephesians 2:10, Paul is saying, that includes us!
His choice of this word, intentionally brings to mind an artist turning a blank canvas into a beautiful masterpiece.
You ever watch Bob Ross?
He is a master with a paintbrush.
And he is able to take the paint and transform the canvas into this winter forest scene.
And it looks amazing.
Then he dips his brush and out of nowhere just feels like adding this happy little cabin.
And your sitting there watching him, thinking, NO! What are you doing!? You just ruined that painting!
But we forget who the artist is.
In the midst of the process, we struggle to even picture what he is painting.
Then after proving his skill as an artist,
Presenting this beautiful scenic view
When he goes back to add more to it, we question or doubt what he is doing.
No Bob! That painting is done!
You don’t have to add more to it.
Then, when the cabin is finished we realize how limited our understanding was.
He adds another layer to the painting, and it makes it even better.
This is the image Paul is stirring in our minds by using this word.
We are the painting in process.
And we may think we are done, but the Artist has a better masterpiece in mind.
We are God’s artwork, His poetry, His workmanship.
And He made us for good works.
Meaning, when we do our good works, we are simply fulfilling our purpose in creation.
We don’t sit idle as recipients of God’s gift that saves us.
No, God had prepared us beforehand to walk in works of salvation.
He speaks about how we should walk throughout this letter.
In Eph 4:1, he says to walk in a manner worthy,
In Eph 5:2, he says to walk in love,
In Eph. 5:8, he says to walk as children of light,
Eph. 5:14 says to look carefully at how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise,
We could paraphrase this to walk wisely.
And we already saw the contrast in vs. 2 of our passage this morning,
Where Paul says we once walked following the course of this world
Also contrasts against Eph 4:17 where he says to no longer walk as the Gentiles do,
Describing it as walking in the futility of their mind.
Ephesians 4-6 really details the walking Paul is discussing in our passage this morning.
So, as we work through the second half of this letter we will see greater application for this walk.
Regarding these works, Martin Luther comments;
“Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is impossible for it not to do good works incessantly. It does not ask whether there are good works to do, but before the questions rises, it has already done them, and is always at the doing of them.”
Recipients of the gift instinctively do these good works for God’s glory.
Like that Philips Sonicare I received as a gift
I put my gift into use,
I instinctively knew to brush my teeth with it twice daily
and now I reap the benefits,
no more canker sores
We have the gift of life
Let’s put it to use,
Walk in good works
and reap the benefits of being formed by the Artist into His workmanship
Don’t think Paul’s mention of walking at the end of this vs. isn’t intentional.
He is contrasting God’s gift of life against the death we experience without Christ.
Look back in vs. 1-2,
You once walked in trespasses and sin when you were dead.
We behaved as individuals bound for death.
If you believe in Christ, this is no longer your present reality.
Now that you are alive, stop walking in sin
Walk in the good works God created you for.
This walk is an infinite journey.
You will continue this walk as long as you are on earth.
If you have seen the movie inception,
Think of this walk like the Penrose staircase
It is that endless staircase
You walk up the steps only to find yourself continuing to loop and never reach the top of the staircase.
Regarding this infinite walk, John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, writes some powerful words, all believers should agree with;
“I am not what I ought to be—ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wash to be—I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be—soon, soon shall i put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, ‘By the grace of God I am what I am.”
This is walking in the good works God created you for.
Paul brings us full circle in our passage this morning.
In it, he includes perhaps the clearest presentation of the Gospel in the NT.
That all will die, but Christ died so that all can live.
And naturally, life ends when we die.,
Belief in Christ makes us unnatural,
It makes our life never end.
Central to this is God’s infinite love, endless grace, rich mercy, and matchless glory.
He saves us from sin and for good works.
Thanks to Christ,
We walk in works of salvation,
We do not work for salvation.
All glory and thanks be to God.
Please join me in prayer.