Sunday, January 22, 2017, 8:40 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Servant of the Lord.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Ephesians 2:1-10
(NASB).
Dead in Sins
(vv. 1-3)
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 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. 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.
When we are born into this
world, we are born sinners. By nature, we do what we ought not to do. But, when
we believe in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, that should all
change. We won’t be instantly perfect, but when we are delivered out of slavery
to sin, and from the power sin and Satan had over our lives, we now have the
power, in Christ, to say “No” to sin, and to live holy lives, pleasing to God. In
other words, Jesus didn’t die just to rescue us from the punishment of hell and
to take us to heaven when we die. He died that we might die with him to sin,
and live with him to righteousness. We are not just forgiven our sins, but we
are radically transformed of the Spirit of God away from living to please our
flesh, to God, to live lives which are being conformed daily into the image of
Christ.
Yet, many people who call
themselves Christians are still in slavery to sin, and they live like Jesus
didn’t rescue them at all from slavery to sin. They still live much like they
did before they professed Jesus Christ to be Lord (owner-master) and Savior of
their lives. There is not much distinction between them and the people of this
sinful world at all. This should not be! Jesus made the way of escape for us.
Satan has no real power over us. Yes, he can tempt us, as well as our own flesh
tempts us to sin, but in Christ Jesus we can resist Satan, flee temptation, and
draw near to God in full assurance of faith. As well, we can cut out of our
lives those things which lead us into sin, and we can throw off every hindrance
to our walks of faith, and forsake those sins which so easily entangle us. And,
yet so many people use God’s grace as an excuse to continue in willful sin
against God.
Alive with Christ (vv. 4-7)
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great
love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made
us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up
with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so
that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in
kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Being made alive together
with Christ is not merely God forgiving our sins, removing the punishment of
sin, and giving us the hope of heaven when we die. Being made alive together
with Christ means we can now, in the power of the Spirit within us, live to
please God. We can now walk in holiness and righteousness. We now have the
Spirit of God living within us, speaking daily to our hearts words of wisdom,
counsel, guidance, direction, etc. He teaches us all the things which Christ
taught his disciples. The Spirit within us convicts our hearts when we sin
against God, and he rebukes and corrects us, as well as he encourages us and
gives us hope and healing. Instead of still being dead in our sins we are now
alive to righteousness. We are no longer held in bondage, but now we are free
from our prisons. So, why should we want to go back to living in prison? And,
yet many do!
Being raised with Christ,
too, and being seated with Him in the heavenly realms is not just positional,
but it is practical and it is applicable to our daily lives. In other words,
God’s grace, which brings salvation, is not free license to continue in sin
without guilt and without remorse. His grace teaches us to say “No” to
ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and
godly lives while we wait for Christ’s return. Jesus Christ “gave Himself for
us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people
for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Tit. 2:11-14). He is now
our Lord (owner-master), and we are his bond-servants, to do what he desires,
not what our flesh desires.
Grace and Faith
(vv. 8-10)
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so
that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Yet, it is only by God’s
grace that any of us can be saved from our sins, have the hope of eternal life
with God, and live holy lives, pleasing to God. We can do nothing to earn or to
deserve our own salvation. Our good will never outweigh our bad. Our own
righteousness is like filthy rags in God’s sight. Our own fleshly works will
never earn us merit with God, no matter how hard we may try in our flesh to do
what we think will please God.
He is not interested in what
we decide to “give” to him, while we hold back the rest for ourselves. What he
desires is us, on the altar, as living sacrifices, living holy lives, pleasing
to him, which is our reasonable and acceptable worship of him. He wants us no
longer conformed to the ways of this sinful world. His desire, and why he died
for us, is to transform us in thought and heart away from sin, to Him, and to
his holiness (See: Ro. 12:1-2). And, to be holy means to be separate from
(different, unlike) this sinful world, because we are being conformed into the
image of Christ.
So many people use this
passage of scripture to teach that God does it all and that nothing is required
of us – no repentance, no obedience, and no surrender to God and to his will.
But, that’s not true. It is true that it is only by God’s grace, and because of
Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins, that any of us can be saved from our sins and
have eternal life with God. It is also true that God’s grace even gifts us with
the faith to believe and the ability to repent of our sins, i.e. to leave our
lives of sin behind us in order to follow our Lord in obedience. Yet, we must
each make that decision to personally put our trust in Jesus Christ, which
means leaving our lives of sin behind us, and allowing Christ to put that sin
to death in our lives and to empower us to live for him. We read in the Bible
that coming to faith in Christ means we are crucified with Christ in death to
sin, and we are resurrected with Christ to newness of life, “created to be like
God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:24).
Also, when people quote this
passage of scripture, they typically exclude verse 10 which says, we are His workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in
them. We can’t be his workmanship if we haven’t truly given our lives to
him in surrender to his will. Also, faith in Jesus Christ is clearly not absent
of good works, but they are works in the Spirit, which God prepared beforehand
that we should do, so that we can walk in them. So, faith in Jesus Christ does
not mean we don’t have to turn from sin or that we don’t have to obey
God/Jesus. It means just the opposite of that. If we are his workmanship, and
if he created us to do the works which he prepared in advance that we should
do, even before the creation of the world, then we should find out what those
works are, and we should walk in them – all in the power and working of the
Spirit of God now living within us.
Jesus said that if we hold on
to our old lives of living for sin and self, we will lose our lives for
eternity, but if we lose our lives, i.e. if we are crucified with Christ in
death to sin, we will live with God for eternity, i.e. we will have eternal life
with God. Paul reiterated Jesus’ words when he said that if we walk (in
lifestyle) in the flesh, we will die in our sins without Christ and without the
hope of eternal life. But, if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds
of the flesh, we will live with Christ for eternity. And, John said that if we
say we have fellowship with God, but we walk (in lifestyle) in the darkness
(sin, wickedness), we are liars, and we don’t live by the truth (See: Lu.
9:23-25; Ro. 6:1-23; 8:1-14; Gal. 2:20; 1 Jn. 1:6).
So, believe in Jesus Christ, let
his grace transform you, and in his power and by his grace live by the truth,
forsake your lives of sin, and walk in the Spirit, and no longer live to
gratify the cravings of your sinful desires in the way you once lived before
you made the decision to believe on Jesus Christ.
Servant of the Lord / An
Original Work
Based off Romans 1:1-17 / July 26, 2012
Servant of the Lord;
For the gospel you’re set apart.
Promised through the prophets of old:
Jesus, Son of God.
Through Him, and for His name alone,
We receive His grace
To call people, Him to obey;
Coming from their faith.
You belong to Christ;
Loved by God, and called to be saints;
Serving God with whole heart and mind;
Preaching Jesus Christ;
Always praying for others’ needs;
Helping hand to lend;
Giving courage to others’ faith,
For the praise of God.
Servant of the Lord;
Of the gospel, I’m not ashamed;
For salvation, power of God
To those who have faith.
In the gospel find righteousness:
Being right with God.
Turn from sin, and trust Jesus Christ.
By faith, live in Him.
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