Sermon: March 11, 2023

EPHESIANS PART 4

Sermon for Trinity Christian Fellowship – March 11
All Scripture is taken from BibleGateway.com, NLT

Over the past three weeks we explored Ephesians 1 and its message: that we have been united with all believers in Jesus Christ through the power of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice. He took pleasure in sacrificing for us and it was His plan from the beginning to unite us as His family. Because of Jesus, we have power from the Holy Spirit to overcome evil. That is the power of the gospel. 

Today, we will explore more of what this means as we study Ephesians 2. 

Ephesians 2:1-10 is about how we were made alive through Christ. 

Verse 2-3 tells us who we were before Christ. I think as Christians we sometimes forget where we came from. Or if we don’t have a dramatic change then we may not fully understand how bad it was and how in danger we were of turning down a dark path.

Ephesians 1:2: Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. 2 You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. 3 All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

So who were we?

First, we were dead. We had no spiritual life, no eternal life. We were made of simple flesh that was going to pass away one day. 

Why were we dead? Paul says it was because of our disobedience and many sins. He explains that the devil is the one who influences and commands the unseen world – that is likely the evil spirits. He also says that this devil is the spirit that works in the hearts of the ungodly. Those who refuse to obey God.

If it seems like there is an evil authority over some people, it is because there is. The enemy, the devil, is working in this world according to the Bible. 

In verse 2, he reminds the church that they used to live that way – which was following the sinful desires of the flesh. That means that our sinful desires are desires that are influenced by satan. That should put us on high alert.

Do you ever feel pulled to do evil? Do you ever feel like you want to sin? To do things that you know are wrong and that God would not approve of? 

Paul says that they, and by extension, you and I before we knew Christ, used to live that way. We USED TO obey our flesh. It was natural for us to do this.

This is the key word: WE USED TO. 

Let’s look at verses 4-6: But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, 5 that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) 6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. 

Something amazing happened when Jesus was raised from the dead. When God raised Christ from the dead, He also raised us from the dead! Of course we will die one day, but because we have been united with Christ Jesus by following Him, He will raise us like He raised Christ! 

That is a huge gift and it is because he loved us so much even when we were sinning. He wanted to rescue us. He had compassion on us. We did nothing to deserve his salvation, but it is by His grace that we will be saved and resurrected on the last day!

Why? Ephesians 2:7 says, So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

Remember that Paul is speaking to the church of Ephesus. He is telling them that God will be able to point to them in future ages as examples. WE – Trinity Christian Fellowship (or any other listener or reader!)– are part of that future age! The people of the church of Ephesus, who Paul is writing to, were not Jews! They were gentiles. They were people who were strangers to the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the knowledge of the coming messiah, but were saved anyway! Just like us! God called them and used them as an immediate audience for scripture that continues to teach us to this day. And you and I are just like them. We were strangers to the good news for so long, but we are included in the resurrection! Praise God!

And just in case we don’t fully understand what Paul has said so far about this being a gift from God, not something we deserve, he repeats his ideas in Ephesians 2:8: God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Whenever something is repeated in scripture, we need to pay special attention. This letter repeats the message: Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. We cannot go around and say, “God chose me because I was just a good person and he wanted to save me.” NO. That is not true.

If we seem like good people, it is because of God’s supernatural power working in our hearts to enable us to overcome our flesh and to overcome the influence of the devil. The devil influences the hearts of those who don’t follow Jesus, but we who follow Jesus, have access to the Holy Spirit to overcome that temptation. 

We are NOT GOOD. HE is good, and He is in us. Hallelujah that He is in us!

Verse 10 reminds us that we do good because He planned those things for us to do. We were not saved because of our good works; we do good works because are saved!

Let’s tell the world that He is good and He can do good in all who humbly say yes to Him. Go and tell the world why you are as you are and why you are not as you once were – give the credit to Jesus and let’s make disciples of Phnom Penh and the world!