From Death to Life

 The message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday, September 26, 2021.  The Bible verses used are Ephesians 2:1-10.

            Are you a good person?

            You probably are.  I don’t think there’s anyone here whom I would say was not a good person.  None of us is perfect, of course--I most certainly am not.  And we know we’re not perfect.  But still, as I look out at all of you, I don’t see one person here whom I would say was not a good person.

            But here’s the thing.  When we say that someone is a good person--or if I say that I’m a good person--what’s our standard?  How are we measuring goodness?  We’re measuring it by other people, right?  We’re comparing ourselves to other people.  We’re saying, well, I may not be perfect, but compared to a lot of people I know, I’m pretty darn good.  I’m doing the best I can, anyway.  I think I’m doing all right.

            I suspect that the people of Ephesus, whom the Apostle Paul was writing to in our reading from the book of Ephesians, would probably have said the same thing.  They’d have said, you know, we may not be perfect, but compared to a lot of people, we’re pretty darn good.  We’re certainly doing the best we can, anyway.  We’re doing all right.

            And then, here comes the Apostle Paul.  And Paul tells them they’re not doing all right at all.  They’re not pretty darn good.  He tells them, “you were dead in your transgressions and sins”.  That word “transgressions”, by the way, means breaking the law, in this case, God’s law.  So Paul is telling them, you are not good at all.  You’re breaking God’s laws.  You’re not doing what Jesus told you to do.  In fact, you’ve been doing that so much that, for all practical purposes, you were dead.

            How do you think the people of Ephesus reacted to that?  Or, look at it this way:  how would you react?  How would you have reacted if I had started this message by telling you, “You are not good people.  You are breaking God’s laws.  You are not living the way Jesus told you to live.  You are sinning so much that you are dead in your transgressions and sins.”

            How would you react to that?  Probably not very well.  And I suspect that the people of Ephesus did not react very well to it, either, when they heard those words of Paul.  No one would want to hear that.  I would not want to hear it, either.  So why would Paul say it?

            It gets back to what we’ve talked about in some of our recent messages--our need to recognize our sins.  If we allow ourselves to think, “Hey, I’m doing pretty good,” we’re also likely to think, “You know, I really don’t need to change much of anything.  I’m doing all right just the way I am.  Yes, I’m a sinner--I get that bit--but you know, the Bible says we’re all sinners.  So really, God cannot expect me to do any better than I am.”  And we just keep living the way we’ve been living.  

That’s not to say that the way we’ve been living is terrible, necessarily.  But if we just accept ourselves the way we are--if we say, “I’m doing fine just the way I am”--we’re not going to try to change.  And we won’t be the people God wants us to be.

So Paul says this to get their attention.  But then, Paul says this, “you followed the ways of the world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.”  Paul is saying, look, I’m not singling you out.  All of us are like this.  Every one of us has done this.  We followed the ways of the world.  We followed Satan--the ruler of the kingdom of the air.  We all lived selfish lives--gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

Paul is not saying this to hammer the people of Ephesus and beat them down.  And Paul does not say it to hammer us or beat us down, either.  But he is saying that it’s important that we recognize this.  It’s important that we recognize the sinful lives we live.  Not excuse them, not pretend we’re doing okay, not sweep our sins under the rug.  Recognize them.  Admit them.  Acknowledge them.

And understand that God recognizes them, too.  God does not think we’re doing pretty good.  God does not think we’re doing fine just the way we are.  Because God is good.  God is perfectly good.  And compared to God we are not good at all.  In fact, compared to God, there is very little about us that’s good.  And, as Paul says, we are by nature deserving of God’s wrath.

But here’s the thing.  God’s view of us--God seeing that we’re not doing pretty good, that we’re not fine just the way we are--is not bad news for us.  It’s good news for us.  In fact, it’s the best news for us there could ever be.  

Why do I say that?  Well, Paul tells us why.  “Because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 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.”

You see, it’s because God sees who we are--it is because God knows we are not pretty good, we are not fine just the way we are--that God sent Jesus Christ to earth.  Yes we are deserving of God’s wrath.  But because God loves us so much, because of God’s incredible mercy and grace--God did not want to give us the punishment we deserve.  And so, God sent Jesus Christ to earth.  God sent Jesus to tell us how to live.  God sent Jesus to show us how to live.  And God sent Jesus to die for us.  God sent Jesus to die, to take the punishment that we should get for our sins.  It was only through that death that Jesus could conquer death itself, rising from the dead.  

And because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, you and I have the chance to avoid God’s wrath.  We have the chance to avoid the punishment we deserve.  God--again, out of God’s incredible love and mercy and grace--gave us a way out.  All we have to do is accept Jesus Christ as the Savior.  When we do, God puts us on an equal footing with Jesus himself--as Paul says, God “raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms.”

That is an incredible gift God has given us.  And Paul emphasizes that, too--this is a gift from God.  We have not earned it.  We don’t deserve it.  God does not owe it to us.  He says, “It is by grace that you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast.”

It’s an incredible gift--but it’s one that you and I have to accept.  God does not force this gift onto us.  You and I have to accept it.

It seems so incredible to us that anyone would not accept it.  Why would anyone not want this gift?  Why would anyone not want to avoid the punishment we deserve?  Why would anyone not want to receive salvation and eternal life with the Lord in heaven?

But there are people who don’t.  There are people right here in our town who have not accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior.  There may even be people in our families who have not accepted Jesus Christ as the Savior.  They may or may not say they have, but our words are not God is interested in.  God is interested in our hearts.  And no matter what anyone may say, God always knows whether anyone has truly accepted Jesus as the Savior.  God always knows whether we have acknowledged our sins, repented of them, and desire to change.  God always knows whether we have accepted His gift, or if we still think we’re pretty good the way we are and don’t need to change.

And make no mistake--the Bible makes it clear that acceptance of Jesus Christ as the Savior is the only way to heaven.  Jesus himself said so.  Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  

Sometimes we might wish that was not the case.   It’s become popular now not to believe that, to say that there are lots of ways to heaven, that Jesus is only one of many ways to eternal life.  But that’s not what Jesus said.  And our opinion about it really does not matter.  God did not take a poll of human beings to determine the way to salvation.  God said there is one way and one way only, and that’s through faith in Jesus Christ.

And if that seems unfair to you, remember what Paul said here.  We were by nature deserving of God’s wrath.  God did not have to provide any way to salvation.  God could have required every one of us to accept the punishment we deserve for our sins.  It is only out of God’s incredible love and grace and mercy that God did provide a way to salvation.  And he was willing to allow His divine Son to be killed in order to give us that way to salvation.  That’s a pretty awesome love God has for us, that God was willing to do that.

Let’s accept that love.  Let’s accept Jesus as the Savior, so that we may have salvation and eternal life.  And let’s do what we can to convince others to accept Him, too, so that they may also have salvation and eternal life.