3/22/20 Ephesians 2:1-10 “Do You Live in Before or After?”

20 Mar 3/22/20 Ephesians 2:1-10 “Do You Live in Before or After?”

3/22/20     Ephesians 2:1-10     “Do You Live in Before or After?”

There are a lot of different things that our television industry tries to pass off as entertainment.  Most of you are aware of my critical views on this subject so here I go again.  There are several shows now where you can see a before picture and an after picture of someone or some place.  Generally speaking these are make-over shows.  I especially dislike the ones where it is a contest and they build up the tension.  There will be a winner and a loser.  The suspense is terrific and of course then comes the commercial.  To me this seems ridiculous.  What real difference does it make if this guy decorates a room better than the other guy?  Or what difference does it make if one person puts on makeup another better than someone else?  I suppose that these are harmless enough shows and I should probably not berate them.  It wouldn’t surprise me if several of us enjoy some of these.  Anyway, as we look at the passage today, we find that Paul is using a similar tactic as he talks about our salvation except there is no commercial.  Let’s take a look at his before and after picture and decide who will be the winner.

I would like to use this example of a video game to help us to understand what Paul is talking about here as he defines grace for us.  Some of us like to play video games and some of us don’t and that is ok.  When our youngest daughters were little, we used to like to play a game called Super Mario.  There were many different levels that we would have to pass, and they got harder as the game progressed.  We would have to learn how to swim, how to shoot fire and how to fly.  I’m sure that the games they have now are far more sophisticated, but we rather enjoyed this one.  Before I came home from work on Friday nights, they would start and get many, many lives stored up by going over the easier levels.  Then when I got home, they would watch me as I tried to get us to new levels.  We enjoyed this time together.  It was modern family time.

But the great thing about this game and many others was that whenever I made a mistake, I would get restored to my original self.  So, I could die, or drown or burn myself up and I would always come back, ready to charge forward once again.  This is basically what Jesus does for us and it is called grace.

Paul begins this wonderful section by telling us that we were dead in our sins.  He paints quite a picture of us in the first three verses.  We follow the ways of the world.  We are disobedient.  We follow our slavery to sin.  And we are the objects of wrath.  I dare you to get up tomorrow and look in the mirror and say these things to yourself and still try to have a good day.  This is not a very complimentary picture.

This is one of the things that I really don’t like about our various Christian denominations in this country today.  It seems to me that we are too busy being politically correct.  And I’m not talking about the obvious things here like we can’t say the name Jesus in a public place.  Or we cannot pray in school.  Or we cannot have any mention of God in our government.  And by the way, look where this has gotten us as we have become all but morally bankrupt.

No, I’m talking about the more subtle things that happen in our churches.  I once attended a wedding I a few years ago in a prominent Lutheran church in the area.  I was very uncomfortable during the ceremony until I found out what was wrong.  The pastor performing it never once said the name of Jesus Christ.  After I realized that I was even more uncomfortable.

Here is another instance that just occurred not too long ago.  I had one of my sermons that I gave at another service critiqued by another pastor.  In this sermon I happened to mention ‘hell.’  Now you folks know I don’t talk a lot about this place, but I will mention it from time to time.  This pastor said to the effect that we don’t really talk about hell because it is a little too much from the old school.  I think that it is important that we talk about these things once in a while so that we know that we are on the right track.  I try not to dwell on it, but I think that it has to be mentioned.

It is important to know the Good News, but it is also important to know why we have or need the Good News.  If all that we have is good news, then it ceases to be good news because everything is good news.  Therefore, Paul is telling us why we need the Good News.

He gives us a before picture of being a slave to the world, a slave to the devil and a slave to the flesh.  The world out there will swallow you up if you allow it.  How often have you seen a young person, maybe a son or daughter, go off and get swallowed up?  They leave their values behind and join the world.  I know that is what I did.  Or think how the world has swallowed many of us in its greed as seen in our coronavirus epidemic.  Or think about all the self-help books that are purchased so that we can look better in the eyes of others.  The list goes on and on.

And it is not just the world.  We also have to contend with Satan.  How often does he tell someone that they can have just one more drink?  Or he tells an alcoholic that it is ok to just have one.  After all, he was the one that told Eve that she could have a bite of the fruit and there would be no consequences.  We need to keep in mind that Satan is the father of all lies and that is all he does.  He lies.  If anything sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.  I wish that there was a way we could escape his temptations but there isn’t.  He will always tempt us, and our only defense is to call on our Lord Jesus Christ for help.

And if these two ways aren’t bad enough, we also have to beware of the flesh.  We can be our own worst enemies.  As Christians we have to live with our old self.  Even though he/she is gone, we still live in a desire to do evil.  We are still self-destructive.  It is in our very nature.  Old friends may still see us as our old selves.  I get to witness this firsthand quite often.  I run into people who knew the old me.  They haven’t seen me in a long time and they still think of me in those old terms and that is ok.  But that old guy is gone.  He has been reborn.  Unfortunately, the old memories are still there, and we all have to fight them back.

And if these three areas aren’t enough, then we have a fourth area that is a combination of the world, the devil and ourselves.  Everywhere we look we have a battle.  These are the reasons that we need some good news.

So, as we move to the 4^th verse, we will see the after picture.  Notice how Paul contrasts verse 1 to verse 4.  Because of His great love for us, Jesus has made us alive.  We were dead and now we are alive.  And it is through nothing that we did.  There isn’t a thing in this world that we have done to earn this grace.  This is a free gift from God, through Jesus Christ.  Jesus didn’t just rise up from the grave on that 1^st Easter.  We all rose up from the grave with Him.  This is what makes the resurrection such joyous news.  We were dead in our sins and now we are alive.

One time during Lent I did a series on various religions and cults in this country and throughout the world.  I think that was an eye-opening experience for many as I tried the best I could to present them.  I am by no means an expert on them and I will never try to be.  But I tried to present a common denominator in all of them.  In every religion or cult of the world, if there is a chance for salvation, it is through what you do.  It is by ‘works.’  Some of them are pretty clever at disguising works.  And that is what we have to watch for in all of them.  And the ones where there is no salvation, the religion is about the individual, me.  Nowhere is there ever mentioned such a thing as grace given freely.

And we can bring all of this back home to ourselves.  As we read on we find that you can never get grace through works or what you do, but once you have grace you will do the good works that you were intended to do.  You cannot have grace that doesn’t result in works.  But your works will never result in grace.

It is this grace by which you are saved.  And then Paul says that we are raised with Christ and are seated with Him in order that we may see the riches of His kindness.  The riches of his kindness can be seen in various projects where you have helped people who you have never met.  Hopefully, you have helped them on their journey to the arms of Jesus Christ.  Sometimes, the things you do as a result of grace may seem like small events in our lives.  But just think of what these small gifts mean to a poor person who has nothing.  These things are huge to them.  God is huge to them.  Let’s keep vigilant to the opportunities that Jesus puts in front of us.

Thus far Paul has pointed out a before picture of every one of us being lost and dead.  Then he paints a wonderful picture of how we can all be saved by faith through the acceptance of this wonderful gift called grace.  And finally, he says in verse 10, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Jesus Christ to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

First I would like you to notice that we are God’s workmanship.  This is something that we should be able to rejoice.  This should make us very happy.  And that is because no matter who you are or what shape you are or what you look like, you are the result of the workmanship of God.  God made you.  And as far as I have ever found, God doesn’t make any junk.  So, if you are sitting here today thinking that this is wrong with you or that is wrong with you, then forget it.  There is nothing wrong with you in the eyes of God and that should be all you need to know.  This should be good enough for us.

The second part here to remember is that we were created in Christ to do good works.  Not only are we not junk, but we were created to do good things.  We were created to help each other out when we get in jams.  We were created to comfort our neighbors when bad things happen.  Haven’t you ever wondered why you feel so good after you have done the right thing for someone else?  It is because you were created to do these things.  I have found, and I have lived on both sides, that you will always feel much better doing good things than getting away with bad things.  Good things always win.

And finally, God prepared in advance for us to do these things.  This is a mind-boggling statement.  Before Adam and Eve, God had prepared for us to do the good things that you will do next week.  By knowing this, you should be able to see that God has already won the battle between right and wrong.  He loves you so much that He could plan all of your good works, centuries in advance.  Now that, my friends in Christ, is a God who loves you a lot.

An illustration from Brian Archer may help us here.  When Standard Oil first began to refine crude oil, they had a terrible black by-product that they couldn’t get use.  It was sticky, it stunk, it couldn’t be burned and it killed everything if it was released into a stream.  They offered a reward to their scientists if they could come up with a use for this stuff or find a way to get rid of it.  After some time a scientist came forward with this wonderful white, shiny substance that we now know as paraffin.  It is used for candles and many other things today.

This is exactly how we were and are now.  Paul says we were dead and now because of what Jesus did on the cross for us, we are cleansed and alive!  We are white as snow.  We are paraffin. We have the chance, like Super Mario in the video game, to start all over with a clean slate.  This is what Paul is telling you today.

Today as we bask in the presence and wonderment of our Lord Jesus Christ, I would like to ask you to forget all of the negatives in your life.  Forget that you might be too much this or too little that.  Forget the coronavirus.  Forget your faults and shortcomings and concentrate on all the good that you do.  Jesus Christ came to this world so that you might be cleansed.  Remember that God doesn’t make junk and go out into His world looking for more good to do.  This is what you were made for and this is how Jesus will make you feel good.  Jesus wants you to feel the best that you can so go and follow Him.  A life in Jesus is the best in the world.  I praise the Lord for all His patience and kindness.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.