Ephesians 2: 1-10
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
in which you formerly walked
We were dead. Dead people can't do anything. They're dead. Our sinfulness that resulted in our disobeying the rules caused us to be spiritually dead. So we lived our physical lives as the walking dead.
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.
We lived our lives obeying the prince of the power of the air, the spirit of disobedience, that his minions are still following. We were also his minions.
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.
We all used to live our lives following this evil spirit, indulging in all the worldly pleasures that hold so much promise but never delivers. The nature we were born into, with that damaged DNA we inherited, deserves wrath. We were born as chamber pots, deserving only the dregs of this world.
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),
God knew we could never do anything that He could accept, so He did it all. That's how much He Loves us. We were dead, so He made us alive. But we are alive only in Christ Jesus. "G.R.A.C.E." is "God's Riches At Christ's Expense." Jesus Christ paid our full sin-debt for each of us.
and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
This we have not experienced yet, but God sees us as already resurrected, at the destination He predestined for us.
so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
In the future ages of existence, we will be like trophies that will display to all creation how gracious and kind God is to take such disreputable beings and make us into glorious beings of light that are prepared to rule and manage in His own Kingdom.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
We have been given access to this grace through our believing and trusting God to have done it; and even this faith to believe it is also a gift that God gives us, in drawing us into His family.
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.
There is nothing that we can do to work up this faith, or to try to get God's favor. We were dead, remember, so we couldn't do anything. Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless the Father draws him (John 6: 44).
So when someone turns to God from idols (I Timothy 1: 9), it's because God the Father has drawn them. All we can do is to want to find Him, and He will be found of us (Jeremiah 29: 13), when we decide to seek Him earnestly. He does all the rest.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
When we are saved, that's when God creates us new, putting His Spirit into our spirits, making us alive. He does this so that we will be able to do things He can accept and reward us for, because He is doing it all through us, as we are in Christ Jesus as His body.
We are alive with the same Holy Spirit in us that is the Spirit of Jesus. We are one with Him with the same Spirit, as He is one with the Father (John 17: 21-23).
God has done it all. There is nothing we can do at all in any of this process, so there is nothing that we can boast about in ourselves. If we want to boast, we can only boast about what God has done! In spite of us!
O my Father, You are so great, so good, so compassionate, so powerful. You do whatever You want to do, and there is no one who can say anything to You about it. You are not accountable to any other--every other is accountable to You. You have made us, and You have re-molded us into something else entirely!
We, being made in Your image, are already able to do whatever we can imagine (Genesis 11: 6), by taking what You have created, and rearranging and restructuring it into "new things" that can perform in ways that would have been incomprehensible to people of former ages.
[For example, we've gone to the Moon! And today, the little phone in our hand holds more computing power than was required for those Moon shots! Truly amazing!]
Thank You, thank You, that You have caused us to be re-born and re-made and re-molded into beings that will be able to actually rule and manage in Your Kingdom! I cannot imagine all the fabulous things You will have us doing!
O Father, help us to understand how wonderful You are, and how fantastic Your works are, and to appreciate all You have already accomplished for us, to show all the Universe how gorgeous You are, and Your goodness and glory!
Help us now, Father, to live our lives showing the world that Jesus really did come, and finish everything You said He would do to save us, and will return again to enforce His rule over this Earth, taking over the whole world we have built on it. Help us to love those in our little worlds as You have Loved us, and draw to Yourself all those who will want what we have, and call on You.
That Your house will be filled up with all Your children, every place at Your grand Banquet Table occupied, that we will eternally enjoy Your fellowship and presence.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus of Nazareth is our Christ and Messiah, our Savior and Redeemer, Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
