Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:11-13, ESV.
Once again issues of race have taken center stage in our national culture. Racially motivated crimes against African Americans have led to protests. Seemingly influenced by radical groups, some of these protests have turned destructive and violent. These are sad days for our nation. We must admit, however, that these sad days have been brought on, at least in part, by the ongoing sin of racism. Too many people in our nation judge others to be of lesser value simply because of their skin color or ethnic background. The great ethnic problem in the early church was the division between the Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews). This was not merely a matter of racism. There was a real and significant difference between these two peoples. The Jews were the people of God and the Gentiles were not. The Gentiles were far from God and outside His kingdom and covenant. They were without hope. Into this great ethnic divide steps the gospel. Now, the Gentile who was so radically separated from God and His covenant blessing can come to Christ by faith and be brought into those blessings. The sacrificial blood of the perfect sacrifice, Jesus Christ, knows no boundary of race. The grace of God through the blood of Jesus covers the sins of all who come to Him by faith. The great divide of race and ethnicity is eliminated in Christ. If nothing else, one message to us should be crystal clear. While all people should be treated fairly because we are all created in God’s image, my brothers and sisters in Christ are even more than that to me. We are all of the same family—regardless of skin color or ethnic background. Nobody needs to be like me to be a member of the family of God any more than the Gentile needed to become a Jew to be in Christ. We all become citizens of one kingdom and siblings in God’s family by coming as undeserving sinners before the throne of grace. We are united by His shed blood and it is time we started acting like it. My prayer for you today is that God will remove from your hearts any hint of racism or ethnic pride and encourage you to proclaim to the gospel that saves people from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Pastor Don For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10, ESV.
There are few passages in the Bible more often quoted and preached than this one, and with good reason. One of the hardest things for mankind to understand is that the God who sees our sin so clearly and finds it so offensive could rescue us from its consequences without requiring something from us in exchange. In our commercial culture, we often struggle to believe that the greatest benefit available to anyone could come at absolutely no cost. Grace is amazing. Christian, if you are saved at all, you are saved by grace through faith. Even if you do good works, none of them are good enough. You are rescued from the consequences and power of sin by an act of God on your behalf. It is a salvation that you do not deserve in the slightest but can receive as you trust in Christ. God can forever boast that He saved you. You can never boast that you are worth saving. There is more! As a result of the gracious nature of our salvation, we are made wonderfully new. We are made useful to God by His own handiwork, for the accomplishment of good works. He had a plan to use us for His glory before He saved us and, having saved us, He is putting that plan into action. We are made into perfect instruments in the hands of a perfect Master. Thus, even our good works bring Him glory—not us. I pray that you will be driven this very day to adoration, thanksgiving, praise, and obedience as you consider the remarkable grace God has shown to you. Pastor Don 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— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-10, ESV.
In the previous three verses, Paul reminds us that God had saved us out of sin’s deadly grasp. He explains how we had once lived under sin’s penalty, death, and in the grip of sin’s power, experiencing devilish passions and deeds. Then, into the deep darkness of verses 1-3, enters the “But God” of verse 4. With those two words, Paul sets up the greatest contrast in all creation, that between our sin and God’s grace. God, in an act of overwhelming mercy motivated by pure love, reaches out to dead sinners and rescues them, bringing them new life in Christ. Because this act of mercy is motivated only by love it is surely a work of God’s grace. And it is an act of immeasurable grace, for the sinner is pulled from spiritual death and a devil-following life all the way to the throne of glory! God rescues the sin-dead soul and transports it, in Christ, to the throne room of heaven. He does so that He might display that rescued sinner before the citizens of glory for all eternity and declare, “Here is the evidence! My kind grace has dealt with sin so completely that this one, even this one, has been rescued by my Son!” The heavens will look on and know that salvation is an unmerited gift, given by a merciful, kind, and loving God through the redeeming work of His Son. In a time when sin seems to be running wild in our world, it is good for us to remember that we would gladly be running amok, in the same way, were it not for the merciful and loving grace of God. I am praying that you will be blessed today in one of two ways: either that you will be taken ahold of by God’s grace for the very first time and come in faith to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or that, having already been saved, you will be overcome with a sense of His grace again. Pastor Don Before I comment on verses 4-10 in the days to come, I would ask you to slowly read this great passage from start to finish. Read it aloud. Read it as though God inspired these words in a letter to you, because, in a sense, He did.
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 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— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV. I pray that you know God's magnificent grace today and that it will be a source of joy to fill your day. Pastor Don And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
Ephesians 2:1-3, ESV. What’s wrong with this world? Many of us have been asking that question as we watched or read the news over the last few weeks. There are some obvious answers to that question. Racism is wrong. Looting is wrong. Injustice is wrong. Mindless violence is wrong. Destruction of another’s property is wrong. Leaders playing political games while cities burn is wrong. While these are right answers, they do not get to the root of the problem. There is a disease that is causing these symptoms. That disease is sin. It has affected everyone, and it is terminal. It brings about the death of both body and soul. Paul reminds the Ephesian Christians that this is what Christ saved them from: following the course of this world—The way of the fallen world is not the heavenly way. It is the way of sin and its course leads to destruction. following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--The devil does not make sinners sin for he is not omnipresent. Nonetheless, the spirit of the devil, a spirit of rebellion and lies, brings about disobedience to the good commands of a holy God. lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind—the soul that is dead in sin craves wicked things. The mind of the spiritually dead rebel has no love for light and life but for darkness and death instead. by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind—Whereas “sons of disobedience” are defiant people following the lead of the devil; “children of wrath” are those whose rebellion has subjected them to the judgmental wrath of God. What’s wrong with the world? Sin leading to death. The only hope Paul provides in these three verses is in the tense of the verbs. These Ephesian Christians “were dead” as they “once walked” in sin and “once lived” enraptured with sin. Sin and death are past tense to the saints. Christian friend, we will never understand the magnitude of the kindness shown to us by God in Christ unless we understand that we were spiritually dead. We must see that all the wickedness we read about and watch on the news was also innate in us before we came to Christ. Every man, woman, boy, and girl is born a sinner and death by their sin. It is from this that Jesus saves. I am praying that today you will see how dark the darkness was from which Christ rescued you that you might also see how kind and gracious your rescue from it was! Pastor Don |
From Pastor DonWriting about the Bible and praying that it will be of some good for someone. Archives
June 2021
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