Ephesians 2 Talk

Slide 1: Video of Ephesians 2
That was Ephesians 2, read by Francis Chan and LeCrae.
At one of the sessions, Louie Giglio suggested that preaching is an important part of worship. He asked those in the dome to stand during the sermon, just like they did during the worship. The preaching that day, though, was done by Paul, rather than any of the big names available at the conference. We experienced LeCrae, Beth Moore, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan and John Piper make way for the Word of the Lord. Rather than adding anything, they allowed the Word to speak. What a powerful message it was!
Let’s look again at the words read by Francis and LeCrae.
Slide 2: Ephesians 2:1-3 (NASB) 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
The NIV says it like this: “ 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 flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”
We were dead. We could have been that body on the stretcher being carried off to a hole in the ground. That’s what we deserved because of our sin. That could have been the end of the story.
But Jesus was interrupted by death. He had compassion on the grieving widow. He had compassion on us. The next 2 words of this passage tell us everything.
Slide 3.1: BUT GOD.
Those two words make all the difference for us.
Slide 3.2: being rich in mercy
God doesn’t just have mercy on us, He is bathing in this mercy. He’s got mercy overflowing in him… FOR US!!!
Slide 3.3: Because of his great love with which
Slide 3.4: He loved us
It’s God’s love and mercy that’s making the difference here. We deserved death. We were headed for a funeral. But God was rich in mercy and abounding in love towards us.
Slide 4: even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)
This God, who loved us with this huge love, made us alive. Even when we were his enemies because of our sin, God interrupted the funeral procession.
There was another time that God interrupted in death. Jesus gave up his life to pay the debt that we owed. But God didn’t let him stay dead. God interrupted death to bring life.
He does the same for us now. This death that Jesus suffered, and the resurrection that God brought, these things mean that we get to experience life after death. We have been made alive again, because of grace. We were saved from the hole in the ground. We have been saved from the death that we deserved.
But this amazing grace doesn’t stop with just giving us life. No, our God is abounding in rich love and extravagant mercy.
Slide 5: Verses 6-7, “6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”
Not only does He give us life, but God gives us a future. He sets us up! He gives us a place and surrounds us with riches.
Can you imagine this! We go from dead and decaying on a stretcher headed towards our own funeral, to sitting in the throne room of Heaven, surrounded by riches!
That’s my God! Can you believe this!
So let’s just be sure we’ve got this. The next verse does a great job of summarizing for us.
Slide 6: Verses 8-9, “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
We were dead. We deserved death. BUT GOD!!! Through His amazing mercy, saw it fit to save us from the death we had earned. Because of His grace we have been given a new life. It is purely a gift of God. I earned my death, I can’t earn my life. It’s not in me. I have to be given my new life, a gift of God. I didn’t do anything good enough to get this from God, I can’t boast about this, I didn’t do this.
So what do we do now? What does getting new life mean?
Slide 7: Verse 10, “10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
2:7-10 (MSG) “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”
Not only is this God so filled with mercy and grace that he freed us from the chains of our own death, but he had plans for us before we even took a breath. He made us, created us in His amazing love and mercy to do good things.
So what are these good works we’re supposed to get busy doing?
In tying this back to the cause of Freedom from the Passion Conference, we need to remember that one big work we have to go about doing is bringing freedom.
Just one book back from Ephesians we find a verse that tells us one thing we need to be doing. Galatians 5:1 tells us.
Slide 8: Galatians 5:1, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
One of the Passion speakers, Christine Caine, said, “Surely God wants to use rescued people to rescue people.”
We are the ones who have tasted this freedom. We know how good it is to have the shackles of our former nature broken. It is our job to get busy sharing that freedom. This is part of the good works that God prepared in advance for us to do.
Surely, the goal of our Christian life is not to arrive safely at death. This is not the work God had planned for us.
Freedom is! We have amazing news to share with the world; God loves us enough to save us from the debt of death that we owe! This is a message worth shouting about! This is a message worth risking our popularity about! This is a message worth losing our comfort over! This is a message worth losing friends over!
This is the work that God prepared in advance for us to do. We have been created in Christ Jesus to do work like him. We get to interrupt death with amazing life. We get to stop the funeral march our friends and family and even strangers are on. We are not that far separated from it ourselves. We remember how slippery that slope was to death. But we have the message of hope.
God loves us enough to pay the price we owe. The price has been paid. We have freedom available, ready for the taking. How can we keep that to ourselves?

God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for the extravagant mercy at you lavished on us. We thank you for the freedom we’ve experienced. We thank you for the good deeds you’ve prepared for us. God, give us boldness now to bring this freedom to others. Show us how to express the amazing work you’ve done in us so that others will want to experience your goodness, too. God, we don’t want to keep this to ourselves. This is too big! You, God, are too big to not share.
Lord, please show us the things that even now are leading us to our funeral. Help us put these things behind us. Help us take your hand and get up from the stretcher. If it’s freedom that you have for us, Lord, help us walk in it!
God we ask for your help in bringing this freedom to all those you’ve placed in our paths. Open our eyes to see the opportunities to share in this work.
We love you, Jesus.