Ephesians 2
Chapter 2
(Verses 1 -3) To understand who we are in Christ, we must understand who we were without him. Spiritual death means separation. So all of our sins kept us separated from God. It sounds backwards but we lived in death and walked in the world so we were like the walking dead. (3) Once we have an understanding of the deathly condition that God saved us from, we will be motivated to action that comes from gratitude for his grace. If we’re keeping it real most of us haven’t accepted the fact that we really and truly deserved everything that Jesus went through on the cross. We know we weren’t that good but dang we weren’t that bad. However that mindset comes from the idea that we deserve anything thing at all. that we are owed life, or a proper upbringing, or a painless existence, as if our default position wasn’t desperate wickedness. We may not have killed anybody but the best thing we’ve every done is filthy rags to God. And God is so God that he can’t even stand to be in the presence of the dirt. with this perspective Jesus becomes more than nice, He becomes necessary.
(Verses 4-7) Once our view shifts, we are able to see that God didn’t give us what we deserve because he chose to give us his love, grace, and mercy instead. Even in the middle of our death, God offered us life abundantly and he is just waiting for us to walk into it. (6) So we go from not even being able to have God be around us to sitting right beside him because of Jesus Christ brought us into the family. (7) Our salvation isn’t just for us either. once we our saved, our lives become a living testimony to just how revolutionary God’s grace and kindness can be.
(Verse 8) “We are save by Grace through faith”. We used to be dead but we were literally resuscitated and brought back to life when we gave our lives to Jesus Christ. Grace is a gift that Jesus brings to the door of your heart. But He loves you so much that he leaves it up to you to open that door. You open the door and accept the gift with the keys of faith in Jesus. If you think of faith as belief then this makes perfect sense. when someone knocks on your door, you have faith or belief that someone ot something will be at your door when you open it. If you heard a knock and thought someone was trying to punk you or that you heard wrong, you’d never open up the door. You’d never have a chance to see or care what was behind that door. Even if there was someone standing there with a million dollars, we’d never be able to access it, because we’d never open the door. Even if a door was technically unlocked, if it’s closed and you can’t or won’t open it then it might as well be locked because it makes no difference to you. They keys of faith work a little differently. instead of unlocking the door to Christ, they unlock your heart so you become willing to open that door and let him in.
(Verse 9-13) God designed salvation so everyone would have access to it. Therefore, if we understand grace, it should humble us and prevent us from looking down on anyone else because we need Jesus just as much as they do and they can get Jesus just as easily as we did. (10) We are God’s handiwork. You are a work of art that is priceless and even if no one else sees you that way, God does. Since God is is the artist in this scenario, he expresses himself and tells a story though his art. That is who we are. We are the expression of God. We tell the story of his Grace and through us he expresses his love. (13)God wanted to be in relationship with his entire body of work so he chose the Israelites as his people and dwelt with them in the tabernacle. (Not because they were better than anyone else but because God has a sovereign plan (Romans 10 & 11)Then through the lineage of God’s chosen people he sent Jesus so that he could dwell among all his people, no longer just with them, but actually in them. Religion without relationship creates more separation which is death but God is life so he doesn’t function in religion alone. He functions in relationship.
(Verses 14-22) Sin separated us from God like the borders of a country. And the law of God built a wall between the countries so you had to climb and struggle for access. But the cross tore down that wall. one of the best ways to stifle Christ’s love is by only being friendly to those we like or to those who are like us. Christ’s love knocked down the barriers in order to reveal unity. If you’re my brother and you upset me I can’t just un-brother you. family doesn’t work like that and the same is true in the body of Christ.
Further Thoughts
Paul emphasizes that we were not just bad people who could work to be better, we were dead people who could bring ourselves back to life. The world is full of the opposite of grace. Religious people judge others for not following the rules of religion and non-religious people judge the religious folks for being judgy. The world thinks people should get what they deserve but that’s not grace. Christianity always seeks to present the capital T Truth. Often times Christians argue and debate about these truths but what if we competed to show grace. We are saved by grace so we can give grace to other people. God prepared good works for us to do so he could get the glory.
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