July 15, 2001

Ephesians 2:1-10

Grace Alone

  1. Introduction
    1. Illustration – In The Canadian Mennonite, Stanley Green writes, In an emotionally charged courtroom, a South African woman stood listening to white police officers acknowledge their atrocities. Officer van de Broek acknowledged that along with three others, he had shot her 18-year-old son at point-blank range. He and the others partied while they burned the son’s body, turning it over and over on the fire until it was reduced to ashes. Eight years later, van de Broek and others returned to seize her husband. She was forced to watch her husband, bound on a woodpile, as they poured gasoline over his body and ignited the flames that consumed his body. The last words she heard her husband say were "forgive them." Now, van de Broek awaited judgment. South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission asked the woman what she wanted. "I want three things," she said calmly. "I want Mr. van de Broek to take me to the place where they burned my husband’s body. I would like to gather up the dust and give him a decent burial. Second, Mr. van de Broek took all my family away from me, and I still have a lot of love to give. Twice a month, I would like for him to come to the ghetto and spend a day with me so I can be a mother to him. Third, I would like Mr. van de Broek to know that he is forgiven by God, and that I forgive him, too. I would like to embrace him so he can know my forgiveness is real." As the elderly woman was led across the courtroom, van de Broek fainted, overwhelmed. Someone began singing "Amazing Grace." Gradually everyone joined in.
    2. Context – This woman knew the power of God’s grace. The first ten verses of Ephesians 2 have a lot to tell us about God’s grace to us.
  1. Scripture Passage
    1. Ephesians 2:1-10 – 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. 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. 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. 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.
    2. Most of us have probably heard or read this passage many times, but we don’t fully understand what grace really means. Today we’re going to explore the depths of God’s grace to us.
  1. The Meaning of Grace
    1. Gerhard Kittels, in The Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, writes that charis, the Greek word for grace, is what delights. It may be a state causing or accompanying joy. It is joyous being or "charm," the element of delight in the beautiful, the favor shown by fortune, i.e., what is pleasing in it. As a mood chaŒris means "sympathy" or "kindness," with a reference to the pleasure that is caused. In certain expressions the idea of "thanks" is brought out, and chaŒris with the genitive has the sense of "for the sake of," "out of consideration for."… In Plato it has the meanings "good pleasure," "goodwill," "favor," "pleasure," "what pleases," and "thanks."… In Hellenism chaŒris becomes a fixed term for the "favor" shown by rulers, with such nuances as "gracious disposition" or "gracious gift." chaŒris may also be ascribed to other dignitaries. Philosophy discusses the "grace" and "wrath" of the gods… In recipients, chaŒris denotes "thanks." In a second development Hellenism stresses the power in chaŒris. This power, which comes from the world above, appears in the divine man and expresses itself in magic. One of my Greek lexicons adds that grace is the action of one who volunteers to do something to which he is not bound.
    2. So we see that grace is that which delights, a state of joy, thanks, pleasure, goodwill, favor, what pleases, good pleasure, that it has power, and that it is the action of one who volunteers to do something to which he is not bound. That sounds an awful lot like what the elderly woman extended to the officer. But how does it apply to us?
    3. The grace of God means that He delights in us, He takes joy in us, He is thankful for us, He takes good pleasure in us, He has goodwill toward us, we have His favor through nothing we did. God’s grace has an almost magical power manifested in His Son, who volunteered to do something that He wasn’t bound to do.
    4. Let’s apply this to our passage and paraphrase a little bit. Verse seven: in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his delight in us, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by God’s joy you have been saved, through faith – and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. Think about it: Jesus came to show the incomparable riches of God’s delight in us. God takes great joy in saving us. And in that great delight and joy are tremendous power.
    5. Let’s look at some other "grace" passages. John 1:16: From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. Acts 15:11: We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. Romans 3:23-24: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 6:14: For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. 2 Corinthians 8:9: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. Titus 2:11: For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. There are many more. The point is that through nothing we have done or ever can do, God has looked on us with delight and sent His Son to die for us and be raised again so that we can truly live.
    6. Illustration – As a former Army Ranger, Seattle pastor Tom Allen described a special connection he felt to the characters in the World War II movie Saving Private Ryan: I was extremely proud – until the last minute of the movie. I was proud watching the Rangers taking Omaha beach. Then they receive a mission to go deep into enemy territory to save Private Ryan. They hit skirmish after skirmish, and some of them are killed along the way. They finally get to where Private Ryan is holed up, and they say, "Come with us. We’ve got to save you." He says, "I’m not going. I have to stay here because there’s a big battle coming up, and if I leave my men they’re all going to die." What do the Rangers say? "We’ll stay here and fight with you." They stay and fight, and it’s gory and hard, and almost everyone dies except Private Ryan. At the end, one of the main characters – played by Tom Hanks – is sitting on the ground. He’s been shot and he’s dying. The battle has been won. Private Ryan leans over to him, and Hanks whispers something to him. Everyone in the theater is crying because Tom Hanks was shot; I was crying because of what he said – it was so terrible. Ryan bent down and Hanks said, "Earn this." The reason that made me angry is no Ranger would ever say, "Earn this." Why? Because the Ranger motto for the past 200 years has been Sua sponte, "I chose this." I volunteered for this. If Hanks was really a Ranger he would have said, "Sua sponte." In other words, "This is free. You don’t pay anything for this. I give up my life for you. That’s my job." And so when you look at the cross and see Jesus hanging there and hear him say, "I thirst," you do not hear "earn this." You never hear Jesus say, "Earn this." He doesn’t say, "I’ve given everything up for you. Now you need to gut it out for me." What he says is "I thirst." He says, "Sua sponte. I volunteered for this. You don’t have to pay anything for it."
  1. The Practice of Grace
    1. For most of us, this is not new stuff. That’s too bad, because we often live like we’ve never heard it. So let’s read this passage again and figure out what this practice of grace is all about.
    2. Verse one of Ephesians chapter 2: 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. We had no spiritual life whatsoever and we did everything we could to make God angry with us by disobeying His commandments.
    3. Verse four: 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. Did you notice the tremendous contrast? Because we let our sinful nature run amok in our lives, we were objects of God’s wrath, BUT because of God’s love and mercy WE HAVE BEEN MADE ALIVE spiritually. We have been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life. How? It is by grace you have been saved. Notice not only the contrast between love and mercy versus wrath, but also the death because of our actions versus salvation through nothing we have done! But there’s more!
    4. Verse six: 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. We have been lifted from the mire of our sins to eternal life because of the grace of God, the "incomparable riches of His grace," which we have received by faith in Christ. God expressed His wonderful grace by showing us kindness in sending us His Son.
    5. Verse 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. We were created to do good works in Christ Jesus, but those works do not save us. We have been saved by the wonderful grace of God as an expression of His love for us. Praise God! Works will come as we walk with Him, but works do not save us. Grace does.
    6. So if we are the object of God’s great grace and mercy and love, that should tell you a few things about how He feels about you.
    1. These are just a few examples of how He feels about you. You no longer have to feel like you are worthless. You no longer have to feel like you have no redeeming qualities. You no longer have to feel as if God was standing in judgment over you waiting for you to mess up. You no longer have to feel like you have no value whatsoever as a person. You no longer have to feel like the world would be better off without you. Why? GRACE!!! God is excited about you! You are of incalculable worth in God’s eyes. You have been redeemed and God sees your wonderful qualities that He wants to nurture within you. You are loved by God and He is standing over you – not in judgment but waiting for you TO BELIEVE HIS GREAT LOVE FOR YOU!!! God values you too highly for you to ever fully know!!! God loves you and put you here on this world to serve Him and to show His love to people who won’t listen to anyone else!!! Let me repeat that: God loves you and put you here on this world to serve him AND TO SHOW HIS LOVE TO PEOPLE WHO WON’T LISTEN TO ANYONE ELSE!!! How do we know this? GRACE!!! God’s grace in sending His Son to die for us and to free us from our sins. That is what grace is all about.
    2. Because of God’s grace, because of the way He feels about you, because He has shown how He feels about you by sending Jesus to die in your place, this is how you need to respond. First, believe what He feels about you. Don’t let the filters that say that you are worthless, which come straight from the pit of hell, deceive you into believing that God doesn’t feel this way about you. Does it sound too good to be true? You bet. It is too good to be true, but it is true. God loves you and is excited about you! Second, let God’s grace shine through you by loving everyone you meet with God’s love. You never know when you’re going to come across those people who only you can reach for Christ. Third, show your appreciation for God’s grace by doing what He commands. God’s grace is the most amazing thing we will ever experience on this planet! Grace shows us God’s love!
    3. Illustration – In their book Speechless, Steven Curtis Chapman and Scotty Smith write, In the Gospel, we discover we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved than we ever dreamed. Grace show us God’s love!!!
  1. Conclusion
    1. How do we respond to such great love and grace? If you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ right now, the best way is to receive Him into your heart and life as your Savior and Lord. That’s the only way to allow grace to save you from eternal spiritual death.
    2. If you already have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the best way to respond is this: allow yourself to be filled with wonder at His grace, bask in the warmth of His love, and allow that warmth to spread to all those you come into contact with. Believe in how God really feels about you, and allow that belief to give you the freedom to become the great man or woman of God He has in mind for you. Change your mind about how He feels about you, and allow your change of mind to change your feelings and your behavior. Start acting like you are loved immensely by your loving and gracious Father.
    3. With every head bowed and every eye closed, if you don’t have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and you want to begin that relationship right now and ask Him to forgive your sins and freely receive His gift of grace, raise your hand right now. We’ll pray with those folks first and then those who already have a relationship with Christ will have a chance to respond.
    4. If you’re asking Jesus into your heart and life for the first time today, pray with me, either out loud or in your mind. Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and need Your forgiveness. This gift of Your grace sounds wonderful to me, and I want to receive it right now. I believe that You died for my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I now invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as Lord and Savior. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
    5. With every head still bowed and every eye still closed, if you’ve had a personal relationship with Jesus and yet you have not fully believed in His grace and love for you, and you want to start doing that right now, please raise your hand right now.
    6. Let’s pray.
    7. If you prayed either to receive Christ this morning or to fully believe His grace and love for you, please tell a friend or the person you are sitting near before you leave this morning. And if someone tells you that they’ve prayed either way this morning, it’s your privilege to help them get started.
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