Introduction
Elite American swimmer Anita Alvarez was performing an artistic routine at the World Aquatics Chaplainship in Budapest this week.
Her routine was exemplary. She said: “my best one by far and not only just how I performed, but just that I was actually enjoying it and really living in the moment, too,” [I was] really happy and really proud.”
But as she finished, she felt a little strange. Everything went black, as she fell unconscious and began to float to the bottom of the pool to her almost certain death. That was until her coach, Andrea Fuentes, realised something was amiss and dived into the pool and brought her to the surface.
It was a dramatic life and death moment that made the news right around the world.
Life and death. At one moment she was “really living in the moment”, and the next facing death, when her coach gave her the gift of life.
Our passage from Ephesians this morning is also about life and death.
We will take a look at the anatomy of our salvation, and marvel again at the depth of what it means to be a Christian believer.
There are two movements in our passage today, then one reflection, and one statement of purpose.
The first movement is:
- You were dead vv 1-3
(Read vv 1-2)
Paul wants the Ephesians to know that once, before they were followers of Christ, they were actually, in reality – dead!
Dead in their transgressions and sins. Transgressions – their deviation from the path. What the old Prayer Book called – sins of commission – the wrong things we do. And their Sins – their falling short, missing the mark – the sins of omission – the good things we don’t do.
In those transgressions and sins – we were DEAD, spiritually dead.
It doesn’t often look that way, does it? If you look at the vigorous body of an athlete, or the lively mind of a scholar, or the vivacious personality of a film star, they look pretty much alive. Anita Alvarez said “I was really living in the moment”.
I had a quick trip to a meeting in Nth QLD this week. The sun shining,
warm breeze, surrounded by care free tourists in shorts and colourful shirts and bare feet. And I thought – Ahh – THIS IS LIVING
But as I looked around and was thinking about this passage, it hit me – the reality is that the people walking past are not really living. They are the walking dead.
Cut off from relationship with God means that you are not alive, not really living at all.
Three words stand out in our passage to unpack this deadness in us.
The world, the devil and the flesh (sounds a bit like the Anglican baptism service).
world – Our deadness was shown by living in the ways of this world
The worldly value system that is opposed to God. The functioning of the world out of step with God – cultural bondage
devil – Please look at verse 2 again. “They also followed the ruler of the Kingdom of the air – the ruler of the kingdom of the air is, of course Satan, the devil.
If following the world was cultural bondage here Paul talks of Spiritual bondage – Following the devil’s lies. the lies about the promises of a life without God; the lies about what will make you fulfilled; the lies about what will make you happy.
flesh – Please look at verse 3 – Our “flesh” is the fallen self-centred human nature, that part of us that is opposed to God.
The World is cultural bondage, the Devil is spiritual bondage and the flesh is Personal bondage.
Paul ends these verses with some sobering words: Look at the end of verse “Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath”
We were objects of God’s wrath. This is not God’s bad temper; it is not God’s spite; it is not malice or animosity or revenge.
But (as John Stott puts it) “it is God’s personal, righteous, constant hostility to evil; his settled refusal to compromise, and his resolve to condemn it.”.
Outside of Christ, we know exactly where we stand before our holy God. We are objects of wrath, because we live in our sin and paradoxically, we are therefore dead in our sin.
That is the human condition. Every human heart inherits the sinful nature so that we stand condemned before God. We are wilful; we are under the bondage of the world; under the bondage of the devil; and under the bondage of ourselves.
Like Anita Alvarez, outside of Christ, we are headed to the bottom of the pool and death is our end.
But the second movement is in vv 4-6
- You are alive vv 4-6
Verse 4 begins with the words – “But God” We were by nature deserving of wrath – but God. God has done something for these dead people.
God who is both rich in mercy– overflowing with clemency, with patience, with compassion, pardon; And also, with love – look again at verse 4 – it is because of his great love for us.
The NIV has simplified the words here – but I think they are better rendered in a more clumsy way, as it underscores the nature of what Paul wants to say:
BUT GOD, who, being rich in mercy, on account of the great love, with which he has loved us.
He underlines and reiterates the love – it is great and it is active, he has loved us. He has done these things for dead people.
And then Paul says what he has done:
First.
God has made us alive with Christ
That means he has transferred us from the realm of death to the realm of life. No longer are they DEAD as he describes in verse 1, sinking to the bottom of the pool. We are coming up to life – real life with him.
We have begun a new life in him; even when we were dead in our transgressions; even though we were like a corpse; he breathed life into our bodies through his spirit and we became new again.
But more than that, he has raised us up with Christ
We often think that our resurrection is entirely future hope; that on the last day we will be resurrected with him, and live eternal life in our resurrected bodies and you would be correct. That is what Paul teaches in 1 Cor 15
But here he is speaking of it as a present reality. So convinced is Paul that we will be finally resurrected with him; even now he speaks of us as resurrected; as raised to new life with Christ
If that is not enough, third, seated us with Christ in heavenly places. We have taken our place in a forward–looking sense – our place to rule with him forever. Seated in the heavenlies. Our salvation is complete.
The point that Paul powerfully makes is that there is nothing else that has to happen in our salvation – We are saved and continued to be saved until we finally come to rule with him, and therefore we can talk about it as if it has already happened.
Just as Paul could say that Christ had been raised from the dead and seated as God’s right hand in Ch 1: 19-20, we now follow him; made alive with him; raised with him; and seated with him in the heavenly realms.
We participate with Christ and therefore do not live under the rule of the spirit of the air; under the powers and of evil; but we are in a new dominion; a new life; a real life with Christ.
The whole point of all of this is spelled out in verse 7. God does all this work; all this saving of us; all this transferring from death to life; raising us up with him; seating us with him in the heavenly realms, So, that he can show us his grace; his free gift to us of life.
It is not about us. We do nothing to contribute to our salvation. All this is done so that glory and honour and renown might go to the God who shows his incomparable riches.
Just think about those words. All the riches of the world; all the Sultans of Brunei; all the crown jewels of England pale into insignificance – a dim shadow, compared to the riches of his grace.
When I was at school, we had a trophy cabinet in the grand entrance to the school and in it was displayed all the triumphs and achievements of the boys of the school. Our football trophies and tennis trophies and debating trophies.
The effect of walking into that room was one of wow – slight intimidation. Definitely there to impress. You saw these trophies and you didn’t think wonderful silverware; what a beautiful trophy – you thought – “what a good school”! The trophies pointed beyond themselves to the achievement of the school.
We are the trophy cabinet of God’s grace. Look around – see the people next to you who were once dead, and are now alive. The person sitting next to you who was once a slowly decaying corpse, dead in her sins and trespasses, and now is raised with Christ. Look at the person in front and behind, and see them as they are seated with him in the heavenly realms.
And then marvel at the God who did this. Wonder at his incomparable riches; his wondrous grace. And then know – it will be on show for the rest of eternity. Please listen again to verse 7. In the ages to come, throughout all eternity, his children will trumpet his grace.
Now we come to the reflection.
- Saved by grace vv 8-9
As Paul thinks about this movement from death to life to resurrection and exaltation, he makes this observation in vv 8-9.
The point that Paul makes here is that God’s offer of salvation is free.
God’s offer of life is an offer of grace – you don’t earn it; it is by faith – that is all you have to do is believe his promise and all these things these aspects of real life will be yours.
So, you can’t boast. That trophy of grace sitting next to you has done nothing to deserve it. In fact, that trophy of grace sitting next to you is a miserable once dead sinner.
None of us can boast. None of us have done a single thing to warrant God’s love and forgiveness. It is his gift.
Heaven will not be filled with peacocks strutting their own beauty and own triumphs, but will be filled with the exploits of Christ and the praises of God.
- Finally – Created for good works v 10
In verse 10 we get his purpose statement: In case we think this free gift of life is license for slackness; is a ticket to a lawless and godless life, Paul writes these words for the Ephesians and for us – v 10.
The first part of that verse refers to what we have been talking about these last few minutes. We are God’s workmanship; his handiwork. That is what he has made us, his masterpiece, his work of art, his trophy of grace, his newly made alive people.
The purpose of us then is to do the works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. The good works we do are evidence of the salvation he has brought to us; they are consequences of salvation; the out–working of salvation.
Every time we serve him, every time we use our gifts, every time we care for the poor, or love our neighbour, or care for the sick, or serve in the church, we declare his grace and mercy.
Before Christ we walked in our sins and transgressions, after we have been saved by grace as a gift, we are to walk a new walk in the good works God has prepared for us.
- Living the real life
A few weeks ago, now, I was at St Thomas’ Howrah and heard the wonderful testimony of a woman in her twenties who had just made that move from death to life.
As she heard about Jesus and was loved by her friends and reflected on the life she was living, she realised she was headed for the bottom of the pool. Sin, the world and devil had entangled her.
But as she encountered the God who is rich in mercy, and the great love with which he had loved her; she moved from death to life. She knew that he had raised her up and seated her with him, and she spoke of his undeserved grace in her life. She knew the rescue from the bottom of the pool
How great it was after the service to head down to Howrah beach and enact that movement form death to life in the sacrament of baptism. I’m sure plunging into the Derwent on a cold winter morning felt like dying. But the joy on her face – was testimony to all of the change in her life.
If you are anything like me, or anything like most Christians I know, you get a bit complacent with the message and a bit comfortable.
I’ve been a Christian for 41 years, and so it is easy to lose sight of the fact that I was once a walking corpse, and that my very life depends on the love and mercy of God; on his grace as a gift. And I need to remember it every day.
Barbara was a member of a church I was a Vicar at in Melbourne. She was in her late 60’s at the time. She had a kidney transplant something like 35 years ago. She was one of the first people to have this procedure and she is the longest surviving kidney transplant recipient in Australia.
She tells me that every day – even 35 years later she has to take medication, so that her body does not reject the organ.
She lives with a constant reminder that her life is not her own; that her life was given to her as a gift and that she depends on that gift, even to this day.
Oh, that we who have been Christians for many years would be as dependent as Barbara on the gift of our life in Christ.
And these words of Paul revolutionise our view of the world around us
That person who lives next door to you who you waved to as you came here this morning. That guy who sits opposite you at work; that young person you chat to on the bus; that woman in the Muslim hijab; that child in your classroom; your friend; your family member; your acquaintance at the local shop, this person who does not know Jesus is a living corpse. They are as good as dead. Their life is no life. And they need to hear the story of God. God who is rich in mercy. God who out of the great love with which he loved us can make them alive together with Christ, and raise them up and seat them with him in the heavenly realms for all eternity.
What a great message of hope for the world!