Sermon - Ephesians 2:1-10 - Littleby Baptist Church - September 16, 2018

So far, we have seen that we need to be blessing or praising God as only He deserves. Our focus should be on those ‘spiritual blessings’ such as salvation, redemption, the Holy Spirit marking us as God’s child, the fact that we are part of His family through Jesus, the Master’s Master Plan allows us to spend eternity with Him, and the fact that our God has unlimited power.

I love the fact that no matter how low I had fallen, that the moment that I become a child of God that the Holy Spirit has marked me as important. No matter what anyone else thought, no matter the value society put on us, the moment we become the Father’s Child we are marked as one of His Prized Possessions. As awesome as that it, it is just the beginning or the down payment pointing us to the guarantee we have received as Followers of Christ. A guarantee that we will get to spend an eternity with God.

There’s a lot of good stuff in this letter so far, and that was only the first chapter. Let’s pick up where we left off.

Ephesians 2:1

“2 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins”

Can anyone here tell me that they have never told a lie, even the smallest of lies trying to protect someone? How about taking something that did not belong to you? It may have been as simple as printing something at work due to running out of ink at home, still counts. How about driving faster than the posted speed limit? I know something practical and not spiritual, but if we are supposed to submit to the authority of those who rule us, we need to be following the speed limit.

Then there is the putting God first in your life. As much as we might try, there are times that our priorities come first over what God might want. We may put our spouse, children, ministry, or job first when we should be putting God first.

Whatever it is for each one of us, we are sinners.

Romans 3:23

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

No person, except for one, has lived a perfect life. None of us can walk perfectly according to God’s Word and His leading every minute of every hour of every day. We are going to fall, we are going to trespass, we are going to sin.

Ephesians 2:2-3

“² in which you previously lived according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient. ³ We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.”

John 17:16 states “They are not of the world”

Romans 12:2 states “Do not be conformed to this age”

1 John 2:15 states “Do not love the world or the things in the world.”

1 John 5:19 states “We know that we are of God, and the whole world is under the sway of the evil one.”

If we are trying to keep up with the Joneses we are living in the ways of this world. If we are trying to blend in with our co-workers, talking and drinking as they do. We are being worldly. If we put our desires above God’s Master Plan for our lives we are letting the evil one, the ‘ruler of the power of the air’ pull us away from the one true God.

Paul fell short, I have fallen short, and everyone here has fallen short of living up to God’s standard. By our nature as decedents of Adam we are destined to suffer for all eternity.

Paul has painted a pretty bleak picture, but let’s keep reading.

Ephesians 2:4-5

“⁴ But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!”

Just like that things can change.

John 3:16

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

God loves you so much that He had a Master Plan in place to give you an amazing gift of grace. In that single act of having Jesus pay for our sins, He wiped away everything we have ever done or will do, forgave us, redeemed us, marked us, adopted us, and is looking forward to spending an eternity with us. As long as we follow Him there is absolutely nothing we can do to that His Grace will not wipe away.

It is all part of the Master’s Master Plan.

Ephesians 2:6

“⁶ He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus”

Jesus Christ was elevated from living a life as a man to sitting at the right hand of God. He was elevated above the position He held in the flesh to a new powerful position. As children of God, as co-heirs with Jesus we have been raised up, we have been elevated above our station as a sinner in this life and in Glory. We are no longer what we were before we met Jesus, we are a new creation.

Colossians 3:1-2

“3 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

Paul is telling the Colossians that since you have been raised with Christ, since you have been elevated above your position as a sinner, seek the things above. We need to be looking for and working towards the things that bring honor and glory to our God.

If we are seated with Christ in heaven, our citizenship is with Him in heaven. Our focus needs to be on the things of heaven. On following the greatest of the commandments, we have been given of loving God and loving others. We need to be witnesses wherever we go, we need to share the gospel, and make disciples. We need to be engaged in the things that God desires of us.  

Ephesians 2:7

“⁷ so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”

God is going to pour out his Grace on all who follow Jesus. As children of God we know we are going to spend eternity with God, but I think no matter how prepared we are, how grand we think it is going to be, what we anticipate, or picture, is going to flat out pale in comparison to the reality of what God has prepared for us.

We have all seen pictures or scenes in moves of churches like the Sistine Chapel with their beautifully painted ceilings. As beautiful as the pictures are, they don’t do the artwork justice. When I was in Germany a few years ago we visited this small town that had an old chapel with a painted ceiling. It was no Sistine Chapel, but it might as well have been compared to what I had seen in pictures. Could have spent hours admiring the intricate details in the paintings. Even though I had seen pictures of some of the most amazing in the world, when I saw this old chapel first hand I was amazed.

When we get to heaven and see how truly awe inspiring it will be, we will be floored. God’s grace is immeasurable and when we finally stand in His presence we will then and only then understand how awesome the gift He gave us is. What a day that will be to see what the Lord has for us.

Ephesians 2:8-9

“⁸ For you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—⁹ not from works, so that no one can boast.”

Salvation cannot be earned. You cannot work hard enough to get it. You can’t be good enough to deserve it. You can’t pay enough to receive it.

The Master’s Master Plan has always been to freely give a gift that we do not deserve, cannot earn, that allows us to spend an eternity with Him. All you need to do is have faith. Faith in who God is, what He did for us, and that we are lost without Him.

We are saved by the gift of Grace through our faith in the One true God.

What humbles me is that this amazing gift we have received, we do not deserve it. God did not need to do this for us. He did not have to pave a path of grace for us. We have fallen short, we do not measure up, we are not worthy. As a human being, there is absolutely no path that we can make on our own that leads to salvation. But as God’s children, we have been saved based solely on our Faith. We are saved by faith, thanks to God’s gifts of grace.

Ephesians 2:10

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.”

Remember me saying that when the Holy Spirit marked us as God’s children it shows how important we are. Well here we are referred to as His workmanship. Everyone here is one of God’s masterpieces. We are a work of art that He lovingly created.

He created us out of Love and a desire to spend eternity with us, but He also created us so that we can live out our faith in service to Him and Others. Remember we are co-heirs with Christ, an heir not only gets the benefits of that title but also has a vested interest in its success. As co-heirs we have skin in the game and want to see the Master’s Master Plan come to fruition.

James tells us that we are show our faith by our works. The closer we draw to God, the more we Love Him, and the more that Love pours out to Others. As that happens our faith will change from being about our personal salvation into a focus on loving others. As we focus on others our faith will be demonstrated in our works.

We may not like to think about it much, but we don’t deserve any of this. We are not worthy. It is only through God’s unlimited Grace that we are saved. He has freely given this Grace that changes who we are from a sinner to one who gives God all we have. Serving God will ultimately drive us to Love and serve others. What better way to thank our Lord than to share His love by serving others.  

Thanks For Reading! God Bless!

Robert