DNA: The Gospel
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
I love movies…my wife does not unless Virgin River on Netflix counts....it doesn’t
I love history as much so movies about history are my jam
One of my favorites is a world war one movie called 1917
2 men are given an impossible suicide mission to get word to british troops that they are walking into a massacre
It is an impossible road that leaves only one of them alive but past what any man could endure
By a miracle he reaches the front where men are in the trenches already about to be sent to death they aren’t even aware of
he is stuck and the music is deep and ominous and tense…hopeless and heart piercing
But the music changes as he does the unthinkable and leaves the safe trench is exposed to the enemy and runs
It is epic the music is beyond inspiring it gets in your bones
The hero does the unthinkable to save men he has never met…to get home to his girl
We should hear that flow of music as we study this passage
It is epic
The Christian Message is epic
Its all right here in Ephesians 2
We are going to see 3 things today
From Death to Life
By Grace Alone
To Make a New People
From Death to Life (2:1-7)
From Death to Life (2:1-7)
The epic Christ he has just described as supreme over all things, people, time, empires and on and on is not an angry referee in the sky
this epic God has done something unimaginable for unimaginable people on the individual level
God created and world where His son would be worshiped and honored knowing we wouldn’t do that
That is what the churchy word sin means
Sin in the vandalism of God’s perfect canvas and we have all held a spray paint can in one form or another
This is an area some of us who are skeptical about Christian things say see i knew you were all just a bunch of rule keepers talking about how bad everyone is”
When you hear sin don’t think about that marlboro you smoked when you were 18
Sin is a religious term not a moral one
God made everything the way it was supposed to be
The Bible calls this Shalom
“The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, and wholeness. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.” Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
Sin then in its most basic definition is the vandalism of how things were meant to be
That is the biblical picture of sin
it is the course of this world Paul says
This world has never acknowledged the majestic life giving all loving King who made it and gives us breath and sunsets and good steaks and great coffee
Since Eden we are either building our own kingdom or God’s
There is a spirit of vandalism and someone vandalized first and told us to do the same
In Genesis the liar told our first parents that they could be like God and decide for themselves what is good and makes them happy
They followed and everyone since has too
We don’t affirm his world or how things should be we swindle ourselves into thinking we made this river stream so i can do what i want with it…throw trash in it if I want too
Sin is folly and we live in a world that encourages folly and the world is our greatest cheerleader when we pick up the spray paint can to vandalize…
we pull the wool over some part of our own eyes. We put a move on ourselves. We deny, suppress, or minimize what we know to be true. We assert, adorn, and elevate what we know to be false. We prettify ugly realities and sell ourselves the prettified versions.
Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
That is sin
it is death in verse
It is death because we choose to unplug from the only source of life
THis is me
I am one who once only knew this..i walked in this
And until i am home with Christ I will have times when i vandalize still
I desire what I want and I do it …i swindle myself and wound the God of the universe
How would a personal great god not Hate this vandalism?
That is what wrath means
I know that is another word many have a hard time with
I get it
Is it really that bad?
Wrath and hell are hard but reframe how you see the words
They are the ultimate end of disconnection from life
What could be worse?
If we never say “Thy will be done..the end is that he will say ok…your will be done forever away from shalom he created
The army is in the trenches about to hear the whistles of their suicide charge
The music is ominous and eery
What hope could there be
The hero does the unthinkable
Like the movie 1917 he jumps the trench in what could only mean suicide to himslef
The music becomes incredibly powerful and inspiring
That is how you should read the next 2 words
Verse 4…BUT GOD
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—
But God because he is filthy rich in mercy and grace made dead men and women alive
In His Son
Before time began he had a plan to bring dead things to life
He had a plan to give us a new spirit to be wise and not fools
The initiative of God before time began to save a people for himself to display to the cosmos His scandalous love and power and glory
Those men in the trench in the movie were destined to be mowed down and could only be saved by a message and person outside of themselves
So do we
In a scandal our hero comes to give his life for us vandalizers
Paul says in Romans 5:8
But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
I love the language of this translation…God Proves…he proves that he is God
That is the cosmos shaking scandal
John Van Tholen is a pastor in New York was struggling with a brutal cancer diagnosis and wrote of this scandalous hope
Paul writes that “while we were still weak Christ died for the ungodly.” He wants us to marvel at the Christ of the Gospel, who comes to us in our weakness and need. Making sure we get the point, Paul uses the word (“still”) twice … in a repetitious and ungrammatical piling up of his meaning. “Still while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.…”
I’m physically weak, but that is not my main weakness.…
While we were still weak … still sinners, still enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son. I find it unfathomable that God’s love propelled him to reach into our world with such scandalous grace, such a way out, such hope.
No doubt God has done it, because there is no hope to be found anywhere else
Bryan Chapel sums up this death to life scandal of grace
“Here is the amazing truth of our spiritual re-creation. Just as God breathed into lifeless dust to give life to Adam, the Lord gives spiritual life to those who were spiritually dead. This God alone can do. We do not have the ability to bring life from death. A dead person cannot will himself to breathe”
Epic music playing…thats the movie shot
By grace alone (2:8-9)
By grace alone (2:8-9)
Noting will steal the stage from our savior and his unimaginable saving
Paul makes it clear so no church person ever should get a big head
You can never earn it
God’s on display
“Grace is of him, faith is of him, our union with Christ is of him, the works we do are of him, and the intention to do them is of him. So there can be no boasting or pride, but only an acknowledgment of the kindness of the gift of God” Bryan Chapell
We should be in awe
This is meant to ensure our worship and wonder and humility and mission
We have contributed nothing but the problem
Our willfull theft of glory by wanting it for ourselves is the core problem
This miraculous saving takes the glory back to God
“only ‘grace’ could rescue us from our deserts, for grace is undeserved favour. Why then did God act? Out of his sheer mercy, love, grace and kindness” - John R. W. Stott
Paul says this just before in verse 7
so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
We are humbled to know we are exhibits of His power to make dead things live and trophies of His scandalous saving
That is the Christian Message
What are your first memories of encountering christians or chucrch?
For most we can look back and not have good memories..even hurt and trauma
These passages are the true christian message
If you have never heard Paul here and only known a poor representation of rule keeping or do what you want liberal church with a jesus of your own making i Invite you to hear the true historic message in these verses
Grace Alone, through Faith Alone, Through Christ alone
Three words foundational the Christian Message are here: Salvation, Grace, and Faith
Salvation is more than youve done bad things so you need a vague saving and then a pat on the back from God “Go get em”
It is deliverance from the death, slavery and wrath
Grace’ is God’s free and undeserved mercy towards us
faith’ is the humble trust with which we receive it for ourselves.
All are a gift of God
We must never think of salvation as a kind of transaction between God and us in which he contributes grace and we contribute faith
John R. W. Stott
Unmerited Grace alone…that is the Christian Message
To make a new people (2:10-22)
To make a new people (2:10-22)
So if the Christian Message isn’t you get a clean slate up til now so try harder what is it?
What are we now? We are God’s workmanship -
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
The greek word means ‘his work of art, his masterpiece
If you notice a Uhaul ever when you see me it is my uhaul full of regret and shame and guilt and wishes I could take it back
If you know what that feels like let this sink in
God knows all of it
He died for when you were doing it knowing you would probably do it again
And while we feel shame if anyone ever knew he calls you His created masterpiece
The Christian message is a truth claim
It is intellectually capable of holding up to skepticism and scrutiny
But it is also the most desirable message in the universe
created in Christ Jesus. Both Greek words speak of creation
Like adam from the dust we are created into something new something alive…not perfect but alive
Imagine a group of alive people among dead people
a world of grey and a culdisac of vibrant color
We are made alive to display to the world His goodness and draw others into a countercultural community of misfits
This grace enables His people to act in radical ways
TO become active shalom builders instead of vandalizers
Works don’t earn us a thing but they prove to us and the world we are different
what does this look like?
In a closed off culture we open our homes to our neighbors
when elections come we don’t act like the world on facebook
we work for the common good of our community
we give sacrificially
you tip well
we look to our work as part of the life giving shalom building it can be instead of a good to be consumed for myself
we become a community made alive to restore shalom among the vandalizing we were once a part
There is a longing world around us
disillusioned with religion and traditional institutions
We are alienated from God but also each other
A 2021 Harvard suggests that 36% of all Americans—including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children—feel “serious loneliness.”
The church is where the world should find humble imperfect people doing life together in a way the world longs for
In my 12 step recovery meetings we call it being there when the casseroles stop
We are doing more than the cultural requirement that makes people ask what is different about us
The answer is …we were dead and now we are alive and this Jesus is the one that did it
Have you ever come alive?
Have you ever seen reality of your need and believed and followed this Jesus
If you never have we can show you
If you are skeptical or have questions about the Christian message we want to hear your heart and give honest answers to honest questions
Lets pray to this amazing God