Ephesians 2:1-10
Saved by God's Grace
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. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made 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.
For those who do not know about Brennan Manning, he was a Priest and author...As an author he wrote much about the Grace of God...Brennan Manning spent his life and ministry helping others experience the Unconditional LOVE of Jesus Christ...A recovering alcoholic and former Franciscan priest, his own spiritual journey took him down a variety of paths, all of them leading to the profound reality of God's irresistible Grace...Brennan was an author and wrote the Ragamuffin Gospel...The Ragamuffin Gospel tells us that we are have sinned and all have faults...God doesn't LOVE us or people because we are righteous and perfect, we all fall short of the Glory of God...There is no perfect person on earth...The Ragamuffin Gospel tells us despite our faults we are LOVED by Jesus and His Father...We cannot get through our sins and faults without a Savior...Jesus continues to LOVE us, even when we fail to love Him...This shows us and speaks about God's Great Grace...
Author Philip Yancey wrote this about God's Grace...“grace means there is nothing we can do to make God LOVE us less—no amount of racism or pride or pornography or adultery or even murder...Grace means that God already LOVES us as much as an Infinite God can possibly LOVE.”...“You cannot earn God’s acceptance by climbing; you must receive it as a gift.”...“Jesus gave us these stories about grace in order to call us to step completely outside our tit-for-tat world of ungrace and enter into God’s realm of Infinite Grace.”...“We live in an atmosphere choked with the fumes of ungrace...Grace comes from outside, as a gift and not an achievement.”...“Why is Brennan Manning lovable in the eyes of God?...Because on February 8th of 1956, in a shattering, life-changing experience, I committed my life to Jesus...Does God LOVE me because ever since I was ordained a priest in 1963, I roamed the country and lately all over the world proclaiming the Good News of the gospel of grace?...Does God LOVE me because I tithe to the poor?...Does He LOVE me because back in New Orleans I work on skid row with alcoholics, addicts, and those who suffer with AIDS?...Does God LOVE me because I spend two hours every day in prayer?...If I believe that stuff I’m a Pharisee!...Then I feel I’m entitled to be comfortably close to Christ because of my good works...The gospel of grace says, “Brennan, you’re lovable for one reason only — because God LOVES you...Period.”...
And Mr. Yancey adds, “Jesus’ story makes no economic sense, and that was His intent...He was giving us a parable about grace, which cannot be calculated like a day’s wages...Grace is not about finishing last or first; it is about not counting...We receive grace as a gift from God, not as something we toil to earn, a point that Jesus made clearly through the employer’s response: Friend, I am not being unfair to you...Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?...Take your pay and go...I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you...Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?...Or are you envious because I am generous?”...