How we are made alive and what we are rescued for...

This week, we have been looking at a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Ephesians. Wednesday, we saw a man named Paul reveal for us the reality 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.

Paul explained 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”? Today, we will see Paul provide the answer to that question in Ephesians 2:8-9:

 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Now if you grew up in church or have spent any time in church, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with these verses. But what if we were to communicate these verses without the church mumbo jumbo talk words? What would these verses sound like?

If Paul was writing these verses in the language we use in our culture today, these verses would sound something like this: “You see, God demonstrates the abundance of His kindness and generosity toward you as a follower of Jesus in that you have been rescued and made alive as a result of His transformational activity through Jesus. Your rescue is the result of God’s transformational intervention and activity and not your performance. Your rescue is a gift from God and was not earned as a result of what you have done for God. So there is no reason for you to brag about why you have done. Instead your rescue should result in you bragging about God”.

Notice that Paul does not say that you have been saved by your faith. Instead Paul states that you have been saved through faith. In other words, faith is not a work that we do for God. Instead faith is placing our confident trust in what God has done for us through Jesus life, death, and resurrection.

As followers of Jesus, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion not because we brought anything to the table, because we were dead. Instead, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion because of God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world through His Son Jesus.

So there is no basis for a follower of Jesus to brag about what they have done for God, because you were dead. The only basis for bragging is in what God has done to make us alive. And because of that reality, when God wants to provide evidence of the abundance of His kindness and generosity to all of creation, He simply points to followers of Jesus that are seated with Christ and are in Christ, in Heaven.

Now so often, we as followers of Jesus tend to stop at verse 9. However, Paul is not done. And it is in what Paul says next to conclude this section of his letter to the members of the church at Ephesus that we see a second way that God demonstrates the abundance of His kindness and generosity to all of the creation. Let’s look at it together in Ephesians 2:10:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Now verse 10, if communicated in the language we use in our culture today, would sound something like this: “We are God’s creation that was created by God and rescued by God through Christ for a lifetime of activity for Christ which God prepared before we created so that we would live our lives for Christ”. 

You see, the reason why we do not go immediately to Heaven upon becoming a follower of Jesus is because God has stuff for us to do. We were rescued by God so that we would live our lives in a way that is engaging in God’s kingdom mission. And as we live our lives by embracing the opportunities that God gives us to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to others that God prepared before we were created, we demonstrate the abundance of His kindness and generosity to all of creation.

We demonstrate the evidence of God’s kindness and generosity because apart from God’s transformational intervention and activity in our lives through Jesus, we were dead men and women walking. But now, the reality is that while we were once dead, we have been made alive through Jesus. And as a result, 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.

So here is a question to consider: Are you a dead man or woman walking? Are you still at a place in your life where you are a dead man or woman walking as a result of your selfishness and rebellion against God? Are you still aligning yourself and living out your 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 your own selfish desires instead of following God’s desires. Are you still doing things out of your selfishness and rebellion that hurt God and others as you rebel and reject the message and teachings of Jesus?

Or have you come to the place in your life where you have now been made alive through Jesus? Have you come to the place where you have placed your confident trust in what God has done for you through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader? 

Because, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion not by our performance for God, because we were dead. And dead people cannot do anything. Instead, we are rescued from our selfishness and rebellion because of God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world through His Son Jesus.