Amazing Grace | Ephesians 2:1-10

December 24, 2012

INTRODUCTION

Ephesians 2:10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

One of the core teachings of the Bible is the salvation which is through faith.

Why do we need salvation?
From what are we saved?
What is salvation by grace?

Recap:

We are on a series from the letter to the Ephesians.

1:3-14: Breathless invocation. Paul is praising God for what he has done.
1:15-23: Paul’s first documented prayer for Ephesians.

Ephesians 2:1-10

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages `he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus .⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

HF: This passage shows the way of life that we lived without Christ, comparing to the way of life that Christians are made to live.

This passage is made of two sentences in Greek:

Ephesians 2:1-7. This talks about our past condition.

Ephesians 2: 8-10: God’s work of Salvation.

Ephesians 2:1-7. This talks about our past condition.

Ephesians 2:1-3

¹As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ²in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. ³All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Nature Of The Former Way Of Life.

It was a state of ‘death’ in sin and transgression. A body cannot live without a head. In the previous chapter Paul said, that Christ is the head of the church. Those who are not part of Christ is described as dead.

The metaphor used here a state of lifelessness. We were dead and we were dead in a realm of sin and we were trapped. We were actually in deplorable state of sin and trespasses.

Paul unpacks how that life of death was being lived.

Life in Bondage

Lived in the ways of this world.
Lived in flesh.
Evil Spirit. Lived under the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

World: Lived in the ways of this world

Living according to the worldly standards.

Doing things that are acceptable in the society but no as per Biblical standards. The age being spoken about here is the world as we live in. Paul says life without Christ is a life that is lived according to the dictates/ways of this world. Their lives were dictated by the worldly standards.

“The age of this world is the unhealthy and ungodly social, cultural, economic environment in which we live. It represents organized evil in the form of peer pressure, ideologies, systems, and structures that provide us with a script of living life totally apart from God and his purposes.” Arnold, Ephesians, 143

The age of this world has its own way of taking hold of our minds and action. Paul said in the pre-Christian life, our lives were consumed by that and we did not have the moral sense of judgement to decipher what is godly and what is ungodly in the world we live in.

Application: Do you find yourself in a place where your life is still being influenced and dictated by what society calls good and not what God sets up as a right way of life to live in this world? Think about it.

Example: Corruption, injustice, lies, deceit, fight, bribe etc.

Do you live according to God’s way or world’s ways?

Do you need salvation from the world?

Flesh: Lived in Flesh

Living according to the pleasures of the world.

Paul said that life without Christ is a life that that is lived according to our sensual pleasures.

“How can you say you are free when your pleasures rule over you?”

– Greek philosopher Socrates

Galatians 5:19-21

¹⁹The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

If your pleasures rule over you, if your desire for alcohol, desire for sex, desire for food, desire for drugs, desire for whatever the world satisfies us rules over you, are you not a slave to those things? To what extent does your pleasure or the flesh look in Pauline language rule over you? Do you need salvation from your flesh?

Evil spirit: The ‘ruler of the power of the air

Those who do not follow Christ follow the ruler of the power of the air.

Evil spirit have influence in cosmic and human sphere.

When we talk about the ruler of the power of the air, they are in the heavenly realms and yet they influence the way human beings live. They are spiritual entities yet they have power and control over the lives of the human beings.

So according to Paul, a person’s life is controlled by 2 spiritual forces and there are no middle grounds. For a Christian his/her life is controlled by the Spirit of God and the unbelievers life is controlled by the evil spiritual powers.

But that is not all, Paul goes on to say in fact the pre-Christian past is a life that was lived according to the dictates of principalities and powers. There are evil spiritual powers that control the lives of those who do not know Christ.

Think about Christians living in Ephesus. They live in a harbour city. They have a high life. They live in a city that is jammed with socioreligious activities. They live in a city with sensuality, magic and all forms of spiritual powers and their influences. Paul says life without Christ was also life that was lived. The language that he use is living under to the ruler of the power of the air. That is a dead life.

Recap: A dead life is a life lived under the dictates of the world, living in flesh, and controlled by the evil spirit.

Consequence: By nature we were object of wrath.

Ephesians 2:1-3

Dead In Trespasses And Sins.

Deserving Wrath.

Dead in transgression means living like animal world, no thought of morality and consequences of one’s action, Separated from the divine act was deemed to be dead.

Our punishment was the wrath of God.

Romans 2:5

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

Transition: This is our horrible past: Dead in sins and deserving God’s wrath. But don’t wallow in pity, don’t get trapped with all kinds of fear because something has happened. God who is rich in mercy decided to act, decided to intervene. There is hope. There is grace. There is mercy.

Ephesians 2:4-7

⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:8-9

⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

The Character Of God: Rich In Mercy

Ephesians 2:4

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,

When we hear our God is a rich God, some people get an impression that God is there to give us prosperity, that’s not the point here though.

God is a rich God in his character, rich in mercy. God is a storehouse of mercy. He is so rich in mercy that when we were dead in our sins and deserving the wrath of God, he turned around and said I have enough mercy to show kindness unto you.

God is merciful in his character. God is loving. It is love that will make him reach out to us.

Illustration: Just imagine you drowning in deep waters and someone shows up to save your life. Do you respond by saying, “Leave me alone and let me die, who told you I need your help?” Or is your response that of gratitude and say, “Please take my hand and rescue me.”

The Act Of God

Ephesians 2:4-7

⁴But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions it is by grace you have been saved. ⁶And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

The Act Of God:

He Loved Us And He Made Us Alive With Christ.
He Raised Us Up With Him
He Seated Us With Him In The Heavenly Realms.

We who were dead. He did not leave us in that state of death. We could do nothing to merit God’s mercy. It is out of his rich mercy and his great love that he loved us and saved us.

Comparison between Ch 1 & 2, Christ and us

Eph. 1:20: Christ was the one who died.

Eph. 2:1: In the pre-Christian past the believers were dead in their trespasses and sins.

Eph. 1:20: God raised Christ from the dead.

Eph. 2:6: God raised us with Christ.

Eph. 1:20: God seated Christ at his right hand.

Eph. 2:6: God seated us with Christ in the heavenly places.

What God did to Jesus, he has done it for us.

Ephesians 2:8-10

⁸For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God ⁹not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

By grace you have been saved, not by works

God’s grace: God’s unmerited favour.

Salvation is not by works, it is by grace. It is not any of your human efforts to find reasons to boast. No one could ever have done anything to merit God’s grace.

It is showing favour to someone, us who are inferior. For Paul, grace is something that God gives to mankind even though they do not deserve it, even though they are inferior to God, even though the law requires punishment we have received grace through Jesus. Grace is bankrupt humans being filled with God’s riches.

True Nature Of Salvation

Salvation Is By Grace Through Faith, Eph. 2:8 (Faith is believing and trusting).
Salvation Is A Gift Of God, Eph. 2:8.
Salvation Is Not By Works Or Human Efforts, Eph. 2:9.
Salvation Is A New Creation For Good Works.
God Saved Us To Prepare Us For Good Works.
The Culmination Of Our Salvation Will Come In The Future, (2:7; 1:10, 14; 4:30; 5:5-7).

“The purpose of God’s creative activity is not merely to have a people, as if he were constructing a work of art. Rather, this new creation is to be active and productive like the Creator. Christians are to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Salvation is not from work, but it surely is for works that is, living is living obediently and productively.”

Illustration:

This is Amazing Grace. The young British boy John Newton was born and raised in England. He lost his mother at 6. John got himself into all kinds of wrong activities. We are told that he served on a slave ship and perhaps took advantage of some of the slaves sexually. John surrendered his life later when he was reading Thomas a’ Kempis, ‘The Imitation of Christ.’ At 39 John Newton became a minister and served among other parishes the Olney Parish Church of Saints Peter and Paul which is a small town between Oxford and Cambridge. Today, the fourteenth century church standing next to a cemetery at Olney has this inscription on the wall “John Newton, Clerk; once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.”

John Newton who believed that he deserved all the punishment God can understood the grace of God. He penned many hymns the famous one of which you know well is Amazing Grace in which Newton writes.

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound

that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind, but now I see.

It was grace that taught my heart to fear,

And grace my fears relieved;

How precious did that grace appear

the hour I first believed.

Then he goes on to talk about God’s promise.

The Lord has promised good to me,

His word my hope secures;

He will my shield and portion be

As long as life endures.

Ephesians 2:1-10, is Amazing Grace, salvation by grace. We saw the picture of our past. God who is fully of mercy and great love towards us saved us by grace. We are saved for good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

The Greek word translated prepare there is the artisan imagery he constructed, molded beforehand that we might live in them. We thank God for taking us out of the pit of wrath and darkness and giving us hope. This should affect how we relate with each other in the community of faith. All of us shared in common the sins, the subjugation to the powers of evil, and a control of our flesh and God intervened and gave us salvation by faith.

Life Application Points:

Christ Saved Us From The Ways Of The World.

Is the culture we live in, is the society we live in shaping us, influencing us, dictating the way of life that we live? If so, is it just important that salvation stands to that realm that God saves us from the dictates of this world.

Christ Saved Us From The Cravings Of The Flesh And Its Desires.

Do our pleasures or desires have ability to control how you live your life?

Are you a slave to your desires? Desire for alcohol, desire for sex, desire for food, desire for whatever the world would gravitate to us. We need salvation from that.

Christ Delivered Us From Every Evil Spiritual Powers.

Do you actually believe that salvation includes God saving you out of the control and the powerful influence of evil spiritual powers?

We Are Saved By Grace Through Faith.
God Saved Us To Prepare Us For Good Works.
Be Careful As To How We Live. Live according to God’s way.

I want to close by reading Ephesians 5:1-20

Ephesians 5:1-20

¹Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ²and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. ⁴Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. ⁵For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. ⁷Therefore do not be partners with them.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) ¹⁰and find out what pleases the Lord. ¹¹Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. ¹²It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. ¹³But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. ¹⁴This is why it is said:

“Wake up, sleeper,

rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

¹⁵Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, ¹⁶making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. ¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. ¹⁸Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, ¹⁹speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, ²⁰always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

City Harvest AG Church

Amazing Grace | Ephesians 2:1-10