Our identity as a follower of Jesus is based on the reality that while we were once dead, we have been made alive through Jesus...

This week, we are looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the Bible called the book of Ephesians. Yesterday, we saw a man named Paul reveal for us the reality that every human being throughout history either is, or has been in a position where they are dead men and women walking. Every human being throughout history were dead men and women walking as a result of their selfishness and rebellion against God.

There was a time when every human being on the planet chose to align themselves and live out their day to day lives in a way that was influenced by the world around us that is opposed to God and God’s kingdom, the devil who is the archenemy of God, and their own selfish desires instead of following God’s desires. And out of that selfishness and rebellion, all humanity throughout history has done things that hurt God and others. That would be me, and that would be you. All of us have been dead men and women walking.

Today, however, we will see that Paul did not stop there. Instead, we Paul uses two powerful words that begin to lead us into a timeless truth about our identity as a follower of Jesus in Ephesians 2:4. Let’s look at those two words together:

But God

In other words, you were dead, but God. You were dead men and women walking but God. We see Paul reveal the significance of this little phrase but God in the rest of verse 4:

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 it is here that we see Paul reveal for us a timeless truth when it comes to our identity. And that timeless truth is that our identity as a follower of Jesus is based on the reality that while we were once dead, we have been made alive through Jesus. As followers of Jesus, while there was a time when we were dead men and women walking as a result of our selfishness and rebellion against God, God made us alive.

You see, you did not make yourself alive, because you were dead. I mean if you are dead you can’t do anything to fix yourself, to rescue yourself, or to save yourself, because after all, you are dead. Instead, God made us alive. Now you might be thinking to yourself “Well Dave if what you just said is true; if all of us either are, or were at one time dead men and women walking as a result of us selfishly rebelling and rejecting God, then what motivated God to want to make us alive. What would drive God to want to make people who were dead after rebelling against Him alive”?

In verse 4, we see Paul provide for us two reasons that drove God to make dead people alive.  First, Paul reveals for us the reality that we were made alive because of the abundance of God’s mercy. When Paul uses the word mercy, this word refers to kindness and concern that is expressed to someone who is in need. You see, we were in desperate need to be made alive because we were dead. And as God saw our desperate need for rescue, He responded with an abundance of mercy in light of our need to be rescued so that we could experience the forgiveness and relationship with God that we were created for and be made alive.

Second, Paul reveals for us the reality that we were made alive because of God’s great love for us. The phrase “because of His great love with which He loved us” literally means “God’s love for us motivated Him to demonstrate His love”. And what is so amazing is that God’s love for us motivated Him to demonstrate His love in spite of the fact that we were dead and separated from Him as a result of our selfishness and rebellion against Him. Even though we were dead men and women walking, God’s love and mercy drove Him to act in a way that made us alive.

Now another natural question that arises here is “Well, Dave, how exactly did God make us alive. How did God take dead men and women and make them alive?’ We see Paul provide the answer to that question in the second half of verse 5. When Paul uses the phrase “made us alive together with Christ”, he is revealing for us the reality that God brought us back to life just as He brought Jesus back to life.

Paul then reveals exactly how God rescued us from our selfishness and rebellion and reunited us with God when he uses the phrase “by grace you have been saved”. Now the word grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world. And it is here that we see that we were made alive as a result of God’s transformational intervention and activity through Jesus Christ.

You see, God responded to the fact that we were dead as a result of our selfishness and rebellion, by sending His unique one of a kind son Jesus Christ as God in a bod, who entered into humanity and lived that life that we were created to live yet refused to live. Jesus lived the life we refused to live and then allowed Himself to be treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives so that God the Father could treat us as though we lived Jesus perfect life.

And as a result of God’s transformational intervention and activity through Jesus Christ, Paul explains that, as followers of Jesus, we were saved, or rescued, from the transcendent danger and destruction that comes as a result of being a dead man or woman walking. As followers of Jesus we are no longer separated from God as a result of our rebellion. As followers of Jesus we are no longer under the sentence of death with no chance of escape.  Instead, we are reunited with God in relationship with Him.

But not only have we as followers of Jesus been made alive as a result of God’s transformational activity through Jesus. Paul reveals for us what else God has done for us as He made us alive in Ephesians 2:6:

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.

Here we see Paul explain that, as followers of Jesus, the fact that we have been made alive with Christ results in us being seated in Heaven with Christ. When Paul uses the phrase “raised us up with Him’, he is revealing for us the reality that, as followers of Jesus, we participate in the resurrection in a mystical and spiritual way.

Just as Jesus was raised for the dead, as a result of our relationship with Jesus, we have been raised from death and brought to life. But not only have we been brought to life with Christ. Paul also explains that God has seated us with Christ in Heaven. In other words, God has caused us to be seated with Christ in Heaven. Right now, in a mystical and spiritual way, God the Father sees you, with Christ, in Heaven.

And, if that is not enough, right now, in a mystical and spiritual way, God the Father sees you, in Christ, in Heaven. As we talked about earlier in this series, just as we see this action figure in this Mason jar, God sees us, in Christ, in Heaven. Now doesn’t that make your head hurt?

Now another question that arises, here is “why would God do all this for us as His followers? Why would God make dead people walking alive? Why would God raise us up with Jesus so that He can see us in Jesus in Heaven?” If that question is running through your mind, I want to let you know that you are asking a great question. We see Paul provide the answer to these questions in verse 7.

Paul explains that followers of Jesus who were once dead were made alive and seated with Jesus in Heaven so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. But what does that mean? What does it mean to be in Christ? With this phrase, Paul is referring to God’s activity through Christ that results in our relationship with Christ.

Paul’s point here is that followers of Jesus who were once dead were made alive and seated with Jesus in Heaven so that God would be able to demonstrate, for all eternity, the extraordinary abundance of His grace in our lives. For all eternity, God would be able to demonstrate to all of the creation the abundance of His kindness and generosity toward followers of Jesus that had been made alive as a result of His transformational activity through Christ.

Now you might be thinking to yourself “how Does God demonstrate the extraordinary abundance of His kindness and generosity toward followers of Jesus”?

Friday, we will see Paul provide the answer to that question...