Ephesians 2:1-10 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 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. All 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. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 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. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Paul does not exclude any person on earth, Jew or Gentile, when he says, ALL OF US also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. All people were under the devil’s influence, following the way of disobedience to God’s authority, the Creator of all things. Because of our waywardness to God, we were dead in trespasses and sin. We were no longer in his likeness, his goodness. But God’s love is enduring for those He has made. He had a plan of redemption for all mankind from the hold of the devil and his destructive nature. Even though we were dead to him and his nature, God brought us life through Jesus Christ the Lord. Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. Before the Redeemer Jesus came to earth, man was considered in a failed state, caught in chaos and violence, no door was opened for mankind to eternal life. As in the book of Judges, even with the law as a governing agent to the Israelites, the Jews resorted to their own way of seeing life. Everyone did what was right in his or her own eyes. Except for times when God manifested his power through a special man or woman, there was no God in the land. The Jews, God’s chosen, even under the light of the law, reverted to the darkness of the flesh, just as in the days of Noah. All mankind, Gentiles and Jews alike, resisted God’s rightness over their lives. Paul relates that the Gentiles were far from God, living in darkness. The Jews were considered closer to God because they had the light of the law. However, the Jews resisted God’s demands on their lives, even though they knew God’s nature of righteousness through the law and its regulations. God’s enduring love towards them had been present with them through their deliverance from Egypt and their traversing through the wilderness. The Spirit of God was with them in the wilderness in the cloud by day and the fire at night. In the wilderness, God directed Moses to construct a tabernacle where He would meet with the people, forgiving them of their sins, accepting their sacrifices and abeyances. In the book of Ezekiel we see God lamenting the waywardness of the Jews after they were settled in the Land of Promise: Canaan. The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable practices and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!" (Ezekiel 16:1-6) God made Jerusalem his place of dwelling. He brought the Jews to Canaan to make it beautiful, a reflection of his glory on earth. But instead of the Israelites making this land that was once a place of the barbarians, glorious, they corrupted it by their sins and the hardness of their hearts. This is an allegory of God delivering the Jews out of Israel, an outcast people, who were dying in Egypt. Their baby boys were left to die after birth. But God picked the Israelites up, cut the umbilical cord, washed them, and bundled them in cloth. He saved the Israelites: by God’s grace they were saved, but the Israelites in the land of Canaan forgot God’s goodness and wandered away from him, fulfilling their fleshly desires.
God had foreseen this wickedness, this desertion from him and his ways, but He preserved a Seed in the loins of the Israelites. Even though they were a rebellious people, God promised their father Abraham that He would bless them and all people everywhere through the Seed of the Israelites. Even though the Jews were often openly rebellious to any controls over their lives by the Creator, the law was still in their midst. Many times they would return to God and repent of their waywardness, proclaiming loudly with tears that they would succumb to God’s authority and do what is right in his eyes. "We will do it!” But their proclamations were short lived. However, the law and it regulations were foundational in their society as a theocracy. Paul reveals in his epistle to the Galatians the reason God placed the law into the Jewish society. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in (protective) custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:24-29) The law placed the Jews in protective custody, away from the total degradation of the world. Even though the Jews failed miserably to be pure and holy by following God’s righteous commands, they knew the law separated them from other people; they knew they were a chosen people by God. The light of the law revealed this to their hearts and minds. The law was a guardian, a protection from the corruptive nature of the world, a way to keep the Seed safe in a world of flesh. But now the law and its regulations were no longer needed to do that, for Christ has been born. The Seed came to the world to redeem the world from the mayhem of sin and death. As God clothed his chosen Israelites through the law, we, the redeemed of God, are now clothed in Christ. Now, all are free who find themselves IN CHRIST, those who were once clothed by the law and those who never knew the law of God. All people are free; redemption has come to the world through the blood of Jesus Christ. As we read from Galatians we are all children of God through faith, and there are no separations according to race or gender, for Christ has made us all heirs according to the promise. Abraham’s seeds were promised the land of Israel where God dwells. Now we who are heirs of that promise have the eternal land where God dwells. We are the chosen, the children of God. Once we were dead in transgressions and sins, but by grace we have been saved. God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus in his eternal land of promise.
Since we are presently sitting in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, we should spread the Good News that Jesus saves and that redemption has come to all people. As our text for today states, It is by grace we are saved, through faith—and this is not from ourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For the redeemed are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for his people to do. As God’s handiwork, his masterpieces, we should display the works that we are through the gift of the Holy Spirit. When redeemed, we become vessels of God--we are to reveal God through our lives. Yes, by grace we were saved. The dead cannot save themselves. A super intervention is needed for the dead to become alive. But now since we are alive, we have a responsibility to the Maker of All Things. Our lives should be a pronouncement that God lives. In writing to the Romans, Paul asks the Romans to accept the weaker brethren who struggle over things in life. We should not condemn them or ridicule them, but be considerate of them and love them as they are. By loving them, they might see a better way to serve the Lord. As God’s workmanship, we need to take on the kindness, gentleness and goodness of the Lord. God asks us to accept the plentifulness of his love and spread it to others. We are to be fishers of men, for the grace of God has placed us in that position. When we see Peter, James and John called to be fishermen, they came with humble hearts, knowing that they were dealing with someone, Jesus Christ, beyond their understanding. Jesus asked Peter to go out into deeper water to fish. Peter protests, but does it any how. Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:5-11) In this scene, Jesus gives Peter and the others an illustration of their lives. They will catch an abundance of men and women, so much that their lives will overflow with the catch. We see this immediately in Peter’s first sermon at Pentecost. Even his shadow gathers men and women in the boat of life, for his shadow heals the sick as he walks through Jerusalem. We see Paul gathering in fish after fish in the communities of the Gentile world. The Good News has come: faith alone IN CHRIST is making the world whole. No longer are God's people governed by outside laws of right and wrong, good and bad; now they are governed by the Holy Spirit inside them. They become literally Temples of God. The Temple is a holy place. And this is the basic law of the Temple: absolute holiness! The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. Yes, this is the basic law of the Temple. (Ezekiel 43:12 NLT) We are no longer beset with transgressions and sins before God’s eyes. Jesus’ blood, his sacrifice, has cleansed us before God, now and forever. We, by faith, accept this reality of purity. Right and wrong, good or bad cannot put us in this position of absolute holiness. Ezekiel goes on and describes the surrounding environment where the Temple exists: The entire top of the mountain where the Temple is built is holy. What this means we really do not know, but when Paul and Silas talked to the fearful jailer about his salvation, Paul said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” (Acts 16:31) We see Paul including the surroundings of the Temple, his family, as being holy. When Paul talks about marriage, For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. (1 Corinthians 7:14) We see the surroundings of the believing spouse affecting those around him or her. Our lives are to influence many. We through our testimonies should initiate holiness in others through their personal faith in Jesus Christ. Definitely, we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Walk in the knowledge of Christ’s workmanship in you today.
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