1.
Once Objects of Wrath
Ephesians 2:1-4
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[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we
were by nature deserving of wrath.
1. Left to ourselves, our natural state is not only disobedient
in nature but dead spiritually speaking.
2. We were also dead as it relates to salvation.
3. The reasons for this spiritual dead and disobedient state
are that those who are dead follow the ruler of the kingdom of the air (Satan)
and that his spirit is at work in the disobedient.
4. Gentiles used to live this way and Jews lived among them
gratifying their sinful nature. All were
lost and deserving of wrath. No one
group was better off than the other, all were by nature deserving of
wrath. Key word here: AT ONE TIME.
5. This continues to this day, without God we are objects of
wrath, as we once lived this way.
2.
In Love: Saved For a Purpose
Ephesians 2:4-10
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 is 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 handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do
good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
1. Because of His great love!
God loves people of His own will, not because we merit His love, but
because He chose to love us.
2. On top of this he shows His rich mercy to those people
chosen by Him (Christian and Jew alike) who choose to be in Him.
3. God’s rich mercy does what our actions or the law was
powerless to do—it makes us alive in Christ!!
It is this grace that saved us who came to faith, even though we were
objects of wrath and lived in a disobedient state to God.
4. And painting a picture of the God that is not limited by
time or space or human reason, Paul speaks in past form about how God has
already and from the beginning raised us up in Christ and seated us in the
heavenly realms in Christ or by way of Christ.
This is not just now, but before and after. And the riches he has lavished on us through
grace will be experienced by us in the future as well as by generations to
come. God is the Alpha and the
Omega. This plan is lived out by way of
Christ through the church, which is His body.
5. This grace is his kindness shown to us through Jesus dying
on the cross, it is not something that could be earned through the law or human
effort as if we could be good enough to merit salvation or a relationship with
God.
6. Paul refers to us as God’s handiwork. As works of architecture and art were many
and this promoted the pride that Ephesian citizens must have felt, Paul reminds
them that they were once rubble meant for damnation and now God-formed to be
something useful. Man’s work is
worthless for salvation. God’s work brought
about by salvation is purposeful and intentional.
7. In love, God saved us, for the purpose of bringing hope and
salvation to others. God prepared this
in advance for us to do.
8. Am I embracing the work that God has purposefully saved us
for? Being chosen and predestined for
salvation has much to do with the embracing of the calling of the chosen. One cannot be a player in a game and chose
not to play and yet remain on the team. Not that the results merit being chosen, but a
saved person must engage as a saved person ought to. There are times of injuries, but a player
never retires or sits on the bench.
3. Brought Near by Christ
Ephesians 2:11-13
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by
birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the
circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ,
excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the
promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been
brought near by the blood of Christ.
·
Paul reminds the Gentiles that they were
different and disadvantaged.
·
Paul reminds the Gentile disciples that
they were once far from God, and separate from Christ and excluded in many
ways.
·
Reminders of who we were without God
and our former way of life often makes us more grateful for how God has changed
us and what He has saved from.
·
He also reminds them that they have now
been brought near by the blood of Christ.
This is not only speaking spiritually, but historically as well, they
are now part of the lineage as we will see in the next part of the chapter.
·
Think of who you were without God and
the life you have now having been brought near to Him.
4. Called to Unity and Peace
Ephesians 2:14-18
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one
and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and
regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the
two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the
cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and
peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one
Spirit.
·
Hostility existed between Jew and
Gentile and common man and God.
·
Dividing wall of hostility--This also refers
to the courts of the temple in Jerusalem. A wall separated Gentiles and Jews,
and signs were posted excluding Gentiles from the inner courts where sacrifices
for sin were performed.
·
Christ offered in His own body the
final sacrifice to which the temple’s sacrifices merely pointed. The ceremonial
laws of the Old Testament that separated Jews and Gentiles are no longer
appropriate after their fulfillment in Christ.
They are now brought together in unity through the sacrifice of Christ.
--Preached peace to you (Gentiles) who
were far and those who were near (Jews).
Isaiah 57:19--creating praise on their lips.
Peace,
peace, to those far and near,”
says the Lord. “And I will heal them.”
5. More Than Peace:
Family
Ephesians 2:19-22
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,
but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with
Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to
become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a
dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
·
Consequently—because of Christ’s
sacrifice… Not only are we now, in Christ, citizens with God’s people, but we
are so much more. We are a family, part
of God’s household on the same level as Jews, the people of God.
·
These verses describe the reversal of
the Gentile disadvantages outlined in verses 11 & 12. Here the building of a new spiritual temple
replaces the outdated physical one in Jerusalem.
·
And if we are to continue in our
spiritual growth we must be built on the only foundation (the Apostles,
prophets—scriptural teachings) and the example of Jesus, but more than that,
submission to His Lordship.
·
This is what His people are—a nation
devoted to Him and His ways.
We were once prodigal children destined
for wrath, saved by His grace for a purpose, brought near to God called to
unity and peace, but more than that to be part of His family. All this to bring Him glory. This is the church’s business.
