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INTRO
Last week at VBS the kids or mates as we called them learned all about how God values life and how we should value life.
Every person no matter how big or small, smart or not, young or old, is of great value to God because he made them in His own image.
But why does God value life so much?
What is it about life that would love it so much?
I think the answer is in the Bible.
The Bible tells us in John 14 that Jesus IS the way, the truth, and the LIFE.
In Acts chapter 3 Peter refers to Jesus as the AUTHOR OF LIFE!
Do you see how amazing this is?!
Only God can create life and God Himself IS life itself.
Do you know that many scientists are very obsessed with life?
The best and the most brilliant minds in our world have studied life to figure out what it is, where it comes from, and how to create it.
But do you know what?
No brilliant scientist has EVER been able to create life in a laboratory!
Not even the most simple single cell organism — Nothing!
So, I want to talk with you this morning about how Jesus, the author of life wants to give you life that you may give life to others.
So, go ahead and get your Bibles out and turn with me to Ephesians 2:1-10.
Every week I encourage you to open your Bibles because the Bible is our authority NOT me.
And anything of value that I have to say should come from the scriptures NOT myself.
If you didn’t bring a Bible today, please use one of our pew Bibles — it’s on page ???
And if you don’t own a Bible, you can take that one home as our gift to you.
Alright, once you are there please stand with me if you are able out of reverence for God’s Word and follow along with me as I read.
PRAY
Dead
Made Alive
Giving Life
Dead
First notice that Paul is writing to Christians and says in verse 1 that they WERE dead (past tense).
This is important because there is a sense in which anyone before they become a Christian is dead.
They’re not physically dead because they’re walking around, breathing, and have brain activity!
So, how are people dead?
Paul says they are dead in their trespasses and sins in verse 1. Sin makes us spiritually dead and is the cause of all eventual physical death.
And if not dealt with results in eternal death.
Let me help you understand why this is.
Remember that God IS life and the author of all life.
And the Bible teaches that we are made FOR God.
Sin is the rejection of the author of life and life itself and choosing instead to live a self-focused or self-centered life.
Martin Luther described sin as a person being curved in on self.
And so the choice to live apart from God is a choice to live apart from life.
And this makes us spiritually dead.
Think of it like this.
What does a flower need to live and grow?
Water, and sunlight.
Well what if a flower suddenly said, water and sunshine are kind of old fashioned, I think that I could make myself happier if I lived in a dark cave and and drank Pepsi all day?
What would happen to that flower?
It would die!
When we reject God we reject life because we were made for God and we only have life when we know Him.
Verse 3 describes this self-centered living as living in the passions of our flesh and carrying out the desires of the body and mind.
Our world today says the only way to know yourself is to look inward and to follow the desires of your heart.
“Find your truth” and “You do you” is what our culture preaches to us constantly.
But when we look inward to find ourselves we are turning away from God turning away from life.
Living this way is to view all of life through the lens of this question, “what’s in it for me?” or “How will this benefit me?”
Now this could make you a very cruel person.
But it can also make you a moral person or even a religious person because you learn that if you act a certain way then more people will like you and approve of you.
And that affirmation and approval give you the happiness you crave.
But this is exhausting because you have to keep feeding this craving to continue receiving the happiness you long for.
And it can be fickle.
Say or do the wrong thing and you could be rejected.
This is not life.
True life is the exact opposite — you will only satisfied and truly know who you are when we look to your creator and embrace who He says you are.
One more thing before I move on to point 2. I just want to point out the obvious problem of being spiritually dead.
So, let me ask you, “what kind of things can a dead person do?” — Nothing, right!? A dead person certainly can’t make themselves alive.
So, if we are spiritually dead like the Bible teaches then we have a real problem that we can’t do anything about.
We need to be MADE ALIVE.
Made Alive
This is the good news.
Paul writes in verses 4-5 “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—”
God makes us alive even when we were dead.
He doesn’t say to us, “try a little harder.”
Jump a little higher.
Reach a little further.
No, in fact that is how all man made dead religion is…a list of things you need to do to get to God.
Christianity is the exact opposite!
Jesus came down to us to save us from our sin and make us alive.
Sin is putting ourselves where only God deserves to be — on the throne of our hearts — living self-centered lives.
But we are saved when Jesus put Himself where we deserved to be — on the cross, dying the death we deserved for our sin.
We are saved from the death of our self-centeredness by the most un-self-centered thing anyone has ever done when Jesus died in our place on the cross!
Jesus took our seat at the cross so that we could be seated with him in the heavenly places it says in verse 6.
This is a place of great honor and glory and Jesus gives it to us.
Verses 8-9 tell you how to receive this gift.
Verse 8 puts it positively while verse 9 puts it negatively.
You are saved by grace through faith v. 8 says.
Grace is receiving some good thing that you didn’t deserve.
You can’t be good enough or smart enough to earn salvation — it’s a gift.
No good thing you do can earn this is Paul’s point in v. 9.
But every gift must be received.
And the way you receive this gift is by faith.
Faith is a biblical word that simple means to trust.
Believing that Jesus died and rose again to pay for your sin — FAITH makes Jesus alone your confidence for being forgiven and made right with God.
Christians, one day you will all stand before God and you won’t be able to point to a single thing you have done that got you there.
No.
You will only be able to point to Jesus who did it all for you.
Have you received this gift of grace for yourself?
The gift of forgiveness and eternal life.
If not exercise faith today, trust Jesus — make Him your confidence.
The kids learned this week that God made them on purpose and for a purpose.
That purpose starts by trusting Jesus to save you.
But that’s just the beginning.
Giving Life
Verse 10 was one of the memory verses the kids learned this week.
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