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"DEAD OR ALIVE?" (In Christ)
Ephesians 2:1-10
I. The human condition.
A. Much pessimism in society over the
problems of humanity.
B. What Paul does in Ephesians 2:1-10
-
1) He first plumbs the depths of
pessimism about people.
2) Then rises to the heights of
optimism about God.
II. What people are by nature.
A. We were dead. 2:1-3
1) Do you ever act dead?
a) I am well-known for it.
Glazed eyes, numb look.
2) Deadening nature of
transgressions and sins. 2:1
a) "Transgressions"
is a false step, involving either the
crossing of a know boundary
or
a deviation from the right path.
b) "Sin" means a
missing of the mark,
a
falling short of a standard. (bow
& arrow)
c) Sins of commission and
omission.
3) Result is spiritual
death. 2:1
a) A life without God is a
living death.
b) We don't just commit sins,
but "live" (lit, walk) in them.
c) Not just "bad"
people, but all people. 2:3b
B. We were enslaved. 2:2
1) Enslaved to the world. 2:2
a) "Ways of the
world" is literally "age of the world."
1> "This
age" of evil and darkness.
2> "World"
as society organized without God.
b) Many surrender to mindset
of Hollywood,
etc.
2) Enslaved to the devil. 2:2
a) Ruler of kingdom of the
air. (unseen forces)
b) Satan and "personal
evil" unfashionable even in Church.
1> But Satanism is
flourishing all around us.
2> He is personal - at
work in individuals. 2:2
3> Jesus and Bible
were convinced of their existence
and
power.
3) Enslaved to the sinful nature
(flesh). 2:3
a) "Desires". 2:3
1> God made us to have
desires: food, sex, sleep.
2> Sin is when
appetite becomes gluttony.
3> Zurich drug addict, hating to get a fix
but compelled.
b) "Thoughts" just
as bad as body. 2:3
1> In Philippians
3:3-6, "the flesh" covers all forms
of self-confidence,
even pride of ancestry,
parentage,
race, and religion.
C. We were condemned. 2:3b
1) Three objections:
a) The wrath of God.
1> Not like our wrath,
but God's steady reaction to sin.
b) Phrase "objects (lit:
children) of wrath."
1> Seems unfair. God just wants to whack us.
2> Jewish way of
talking.
c) Meaning of "by
nature."
1> Doesn't mean every
person is totally horrible.
A> But every part
of us is tainted by sin.
2> When Adam sinned, he
corrupted all of us.
A> "Corporate
identity" of Hebrew thought.
1: Best meaning
of "original sin."
B> We have a
selfish nature from the very beginning.
2) Condemnation shows the moral
consistency of God.
III. What people can be,
with God's grace. 2:4-7
A. God's actions toward us are
motivated by his love, not ours.
1) Speaker at Chester Congregational - we belt out
"Oh how I
love
Jesus" but are more timid with "Jesus Loves Me."
(Being charismatic, they
concluded with 14 stanzas of "Jesus
Loves Me")
2) God reaches us when we are
still sinners. 2:5 b
a) You don't have to reform
yourself first to come to God.
B. God gives us a new life. 2:5 a
1) Illustration from Charles
Colson's Prison Fellowship:
Cesar Guy was a well-off Filipino
who was falsely accused
of
rape.
The case was in the newspapers
for weeks.
In the end he was sent to prison
for 16 years.
Cesar was so bitter he turned
to alcohol.
After 7 years his accuser
recanted after becoming a Christian
and
asked that he be pardoned.
Unfortunately, three days
previously President Marcos had
imposed
military law and the pardon got buried.
One cellmate, Roger Arienda, was jailed for criticizing Marcos
and
droned on about politics.
In 1975 Roger took a Bible out of
the library and became saved.
Then he droned on about Jesus.
But Roger's rage was replaced
with compassion.
Chinese Pastor Hao preached at the prison and wouldn't take
his
eyes off Cesar.
He visited him personally and
gave him a Bible, which he tried
to
trade for a cigarette but couldn't.
He promised to read John 3 to get
the pastor off his back.
Nicodemus fascinated him, as
did 2 Corinthians 5:17.
He accepted Christ and looked up
his old cellmate Roger.
Cesar was released in 1982,
complete with a press conference
and
a public apology from the newspaper that had defamed him.
He now works with Prison
Fellowship and gives jobs to prisoners.
C. God gives us a new victory. 2:6
1) God seated us with Christ in
glory - right now.
2) Evil can be increasingly put
under our feet.
IV. Why God did it this way. 2:8-10
A. God's nature is merciful. 2:4
1) Jesus says when we show mercy,
we share in the Father's nature.
2) God wants to show us his
riches. 2:7
3) This is the essential meaning
of "grace."
B. Everything He gives us is
undeserved.
1) Salvation through faith is a
gift. 2:8
a) Not a transaction between
God and us in which he
contributes
grace and we contribute faith.
b) We were dead, and had to
be made spiritually alive before
we
could believe.
c) The whole event of
salvation through faith is God's gift.
2) No room for human achievement,
no room for bragging. 2:9
a) Not by achievement (your
own doing).
b) Not a reward for good
deeds (not by works).
c) All are equal before God's
throne.
3) Controversial - most religions
reject free grace.
a) Sect out in Billy Graham
Crusade parking lot.
b) Cuts against our
nature. But Biblical.
C. God saves us to do good things.
1) We are God's workmanship.
a) Workmanship = (poiema), poem, work of art, masterpiece.
2) We're not saved "by"
works (2:9), but "to do" works (2:10).
a) Good works are
indispensable to salvation -
not as its ground or
means,
but as its
consequence and evidence.
b) Gratitude, not ticket into
heaven.
3) God has prepared for us to do
this.
a) Literally - to walk
in. Paragraph ends as it begins.
b) Good lifestyle should characterize
all Christians.
I. Resurrected with Christ. 2:1-10
A. Man by nature, or the human
condition. 2:1-3
1) We were dead.
2) We were enslaved.
a) To the world.
b) To the devil.
c) To the flesh.
3) We were condemned.
a) Three objections:
1> The wrath of God.
2> Phrase
"children of wrath."
3> Meaning of "by
nature."
b) Condemnation shows the
consistency of God.
B. Man by grace, or the divine
compassion. 2:4-10
1) What God has done.
2) Why God did it.
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