Today our gospel lesson contains the most popular passage in all of scripture. John 3:16 has been described as the gospel in a nutshell. This short verse is poetically profound and immeasurably significant to our salvation. On any given Sunday, I would jump at the opportunity to preach on John 3:16. Very few sections of scripture could entice me away expounding on the gospel in a nutshell. However, today, our second lesson has done just that.
Today I am going to talk to you about Ephesians 2:1-10. It is no secret that I have a love affair with this section of scripture. For years Ephesians 2:1-10 has been my “go to” section of scripture when I want to share my faith with someone. I suppose you could say Ephesians 2:1-10 is the proof passage for my faith; it is the foundation for every bible class I teach, and it is the heart of every sermon that I preach. Professionally it keeps me humble, personally it fills me with confidence. If you want to know me, I mean truly know me, then read Ephesians 2:1-10. To me there is no greater passage in all of scripture that explains what I was, where I am going, and who I am trying to be. Today It is my intention to cause you to fall madly in love with Ephesians 2:1-10.
The reason I have such a love affair with these verses is because I have not always been the fine upstanding Christian that you see before you today. As you know, I have no problem sharing the personal lives of my children with you, but I rarely share anything about my childhood. You see, there is not much in my childhood that could be considered appropriate conversation for good church going folk like yourselves. The short, sanitized version is, my parents were divorced when I was 5 and my mother, three sisters, and myself were left to fend for ourselves. Those were difficult years full of cold nights and hungry days. I dealt with it by inflicting the pain that I was feeling on as many people as I could. I simply wanted to hurt people. I will spare you the bloody details but, suffice it to say, I was a violent, vulgar, rude, and disrespectful brat of a child.
I tell you this, not so that you young people can go home and try to justify your bad behavior by telling your parents “at least I am not as bad as pastor Lewis was when he was a child”. (I sincerely hope y’all have higher standards for yourselves than that.) The reason I tell you what a bad child I was is because I want you to understand why it is so easy for me to relate to verses 1-3. You see, in order to fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10 you have to first come face to face with its brutal honesty. In verses 1-3 Paul writes, “1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in 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. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” In Ephesians 2:1-3 I am forced to come face to face with what I was. I am forced to confess that I was dead in my transgressions and sins. I am forced to confess that I there was a disobedient spirit within me. I am forced to confess that my sinful desires made me an object of God’s wrath. When I look back on my childhood, I am forced to confess this is what I was.
In order for you to fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10 you must first come face to face with the brutal honesty of verses 1-3. Maybe your childhood was not defined by abandonment and pain; maybe compared to me you were not what they call a bad child. But I challenge you to look closely at your past and what you will see is a child who inherited sin from their mother and father. You will see a child whose disobedient spirit got them into trouble on more than one occasion. You will see a child whose sinful desires caused them to compromise their character. If by chance you don’t see any of that than take off your Pollyanna glasses and look again. At the very least I am confident you will see some arrogance and pride in your past (if not your present). I know you will find deadly transgressions, a disobedient spirit, and sinful desires in your past because Paul says, “All of us also lived among them at one time… Like the rest, we (that’s you, that’s me) were by nature objects of wrath.” If you cannot come face to face with the brutal honesty of verses 1-3 and confess this is what you used to be; if you are unable to admit that you have not always been the find upstanding Christian that you are today, then you will never fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10.
If you were unable to come face to face with the brutal honesty of verses 1-3 then you might as well start daydreaming because the rest of these verses aren’t going to mean that much to you. However, if you were able to confess that verses 1-3 describe what you were than I am confident you will be eager to know where you will be.
For me personally, I cannot help but look at my life today and recognize how blessed I am. I am surrounded by family and friends who love me. All my needs have been met and most of my wants have been supplied. The pain that once consumed me has mostly been healed and these days I am much more interested in helping people than hurting them. My life is not perfect, but it is pretty great. I tell you this not to brag. (Most of you here share many of the blessings I just mentioned.) The reason I tell you about my blessings is because in order to fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10 you must believe its gracious blessings. In verses 6-7 Paul writes, “6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” I have come a long way from what I was, but it is nothing compared to where I am going to be. In Ephesians 2:6-7 I am ecstatic to see myself not only raised up from what I was, but I am given a seat in heaven next to Jesus and am being showered with the extraordinary love and abundant kindness of the heavenly Father! Considering what I was, I can hardly believe that is where I am going to be.
In order for you to fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10 you must believe the gracious blessings of verses 6-7. The sin that saturated your being, led you astray, and frustrated your efforts will be a thing of your past. You will be raised above it; sin will not be able to touch your toe let alone tangle your feet. You will be given a seat next to Jesus Who has defeated the old evil foe and is currently using the thrones of the world as His footstool. There is no harm that can come to you and no danger that can threaten you while you are seated next to Jesus. And if that were not enough, you will bask in the blessings of the heavenly Father. I honestly can’t tell you what that means. All I know is there will be no more mourning or crying or pain for you, rather you will stand before the throne of the Almighty God dressed in robes of white as the radiance of God’s glory shines on you and around you.
Considering what you were, I understand the gracious blessings of Ephesians 2:6-7 can be difficult to believe. Maybe it would help if you learned what it was that caused people like you and me to be given with such gracious blessings. Thankfully, Ephesians 2:4-5 tells us about that cause. (I am going to share Ephesians 2:4-5 with you now, but I must warn you, these verses are at the center of my affection for this section of scripture and if you are not careful you might just find yourself falling in love with them too.) In verses 4-5 Paul writes, “4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” What caused people like you and me to be given such gracious blessings? It was because of God’s great love. It was because of God’s rich mercy. We can be confident that these gracious blessings are for us because they don’t depend on us, they depend on God. Even when we were what we were God loved us enough to send His one and only Son to live perfectly in our place. Even when we were what we were God chose to have mercy on us and punished His Son in our place. We can be confident that these gracious blessings are for us because we have not earned them and we do not deserve them, rather these blessings are given to us by grace.
Have you fallen in love yet? I would understand if the brutal honesty and the gracious blessings of Ephesians 2:1-10 have stirred your affections. If you have started to fall in love with these verses than do not be surprised if you suddenly find yourself wanting to be a better person.
That is the effect Ephesians 2:1-10 has on me. Every time I think about what I was and where, by the grace of God, I am going to be, I find myself wanting to be a better person. I want to be the opposite of what I was. I want to think, speak, and act like someone who is on their way to sit with Jesus. The reason I tell you about my desire to be a better person is because in order to fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10 you must be aware of the amazing opportunity that it places before you. In verses 8-10 Paul writes, “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” In view of His grace, I want to express my gratitude to God by being a better person. In verses 8-10 I discover that God has prepared opportunities for me to do just that. God has prepared opportunities for me to do good works not to gain His favor or secure His blessing. By grace I have already been given God’s favor. By grace God has already bestowed His blessings upon me. God has prepared opportunities for me to do good works so that I can say “thank you”.
In order for you to fall in love with Ephesians 2:1-10 you must be aware of the amazing opportunity God has placed before you in verses 8-10. By grace you have been given God’s favor. By grace God has bestowed His blessings upon you. Now, by grace, you have been given the opportunity to say, “thank you”. With the thoughts that you think, with the words that you speak, with the things that you do, you have an amazing opportunity to say to express your gratitude toward God, you have an amazing opportunity to say, “thank you”.
I don’t suppose any bible passage will ever surpass the great John 3:16 in popularity and I completely understand why. I am thrilled that so many people know “16 God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” But today I pray that I have caused you to also fall in love with the brutal honesty, gracious blessings, and amazing opportunities found in Ephesians 2:1-10. In my opinion there is no greater passage in all of scripture that explains what we were, where we are going, and who we want to be. Amen