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All the things we value the most in our relationship with God are his idea. He created us; he came after us in love; he is repairing the damage we have done in our own lives; and even the faith we need to believe this is his ongoing gift. Paul assures us that GRACE could well be an acronym that stands for God's Riches at Christ's Expense. What we never do for ourselves he has boldly and eternally done for us "in Christ."

 

Expedition Ephesians
Grace Alone
June 12-13, 2010
Scott Shelton

Ephesians 2:8-10

Growing up in Texas, I like the word fix. Or as a verb, fixin’ to. You can say, “I am going to eat BBQ. Or you can say, “I am fixin’ to dive into some great BBQ.”

I don’t always like the word fix when it comes to describing my ability to work with my hands.  

I wish I could fix things. My kitchen sink is currently leaking. I am asking a friend to fix it for me, because I think I would make it worse if I tried to do it. I also wish I could fix relationships in my life that aren’t always perfect. I wish I could go back and do-over conversations that went badly. I am part of the human race and I have the human condition. I am a sinner, as all of us are.  

We all are alike and all are different. We all have faults, we sin, we have good days and bad days, we succeed, we fail, we win – we lose. Today’s passage in Ephesians also speaks of how we are different. We are uniquely made in God’s image, gifted by him to do good things, in his honor with the gifts and abilities that are special to each of us. None of you are able to fix your own sin problem, but God can.  

Our passage today in the continuing look at Ephesians speaks of all these truths – how we are the same in sin, but saved by grace. And how we are different in our gifts to do good works out of gratitude for God’s grace. It is not only a pivotal passage in Ephesians Chapter 2, or in the book of Ephesians, but in the entire Bible. A friend told me these are the verses of scripture that helped her to know Jesus as savior for the first time. Another friend told me that these verses were revolutionary to him and when he understood them, his faith took off – and he has grown as a Christian with a new outlook on life. They are Ephesians 2:8-10 – in honor of God’s word, let’s stand and read these verses together.

Read Eph. 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Let us pray – Holy Spirit – please speak to us now through this passage. And may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you O Lord.

This passage touches on three of the biggest concepts in Christianity –

Slide - grace, salvation, and faith.  

Let’s take a look at what they mean and how we can get there for the kind of life with grace, meaning and purpose we can have.

Grace – Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. This is a simple acronym which I learned as a teenager. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve often thought that this explanation of grace is too simple. But, it is basic, memorable, and true.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves it is the gift of God.

It is the gift of God – grace is God’s free gift to us. It costs us nothing. It cost God everything. Jesus came to earth as a human and gave his life to a painful death – that as a sinless god/man dying for us – that we might live.

Another way to think about it is this:

We all deserve receive justice from God– Justice is getting what we deserve.

Romans 6:23 a (the first part of the verse) says – “for the wages of sin is death.”

There is a cost for our sin. We are dead.  

We all can receive mercy – Mercy is not getting what we deserve. Ephesians 6:4 says, “God, who is rich in MERCY, made us alive in Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.” We can only escape death through God’s mercy.

We all can receive grace – Grace is getting what we don’t deserve. Grace is the second part of Rom. 6:23, part b – it says, “For the wages of sin is death…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” It is a gift, nothing we can earn. It is life, not death, a chance to start over, not only to be fixed, but to be recreated by our Creator.

The second major theme in Ephesians 2:8 is salvation.

Salvation - We are saved - saved from what and to what? Saved from death to life. Saved from our own inability to fix our sin problem. Saved to eternal life with God in heaven, and a rich life here on earth with meaning and purpose, with God doing the saving.

This is not from yourselves – we can’t do it. God tells us in Ephesians 2:8-9– “…this is not from yourselves…so that no one can boast.” God is perfect and we can not measure up – whatever we try to do that is good – we can’t do enough of it to pay for our sin or to earn our way into God’s love – it is given freely. Nothing we do is enough to earn God’s favor or forgiveness.

And Faith - salvation, grace, faith. We receive God’s Grace with faith.  

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

We are saved by grace – Gods’ gift. Saved through faith. And yet, God also gives us the faith to believe it and receive it.  

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

This good news gets us off the hook to earn anything. It says, “this not from yourselves…not by works…so that no one can boast.” Aren’t there times when we all want to puff out our chests a little and tell people about the good thing we did? We might even be prone think as Americans that we can earn points with God – you know God is keeping score. The good people go to heaven and the bad people don’t. But we can’t.  

Faith is as best we can give in our human weakness, to believe in God.  

Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth , “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Our faith response is head, heart, and life. This faith, given to us by God is to be lived out by us.

But I love the song, that we heard during the offering. The song puts in our place with God and helps us in a creative way to understand God’s grace.

 

The lyrics say this….

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth

Would care to know my name

Would care to feel my hurt

Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star

Would choose to light the way

For my ever wandering heart 

Not because of who I am

But because of what You've done

Not because of what I've done

But because of who You are 

Not because of who I am – while I am God’s child, I can’t earn God’s favor

Because of what you’ve done, O God – God freely gives his grace through Jesus

Not because of what I’ve done – I can never do enough bad things to be cast out, or enough good things to earn my way.

But because of who you are, O God, - that we know a God who is a just God, but also grace-giving, slow to anger, and abounding in love. Because of who God is, we have the chance for new life.

Recently we had a staff meeting at church where we were talking about how we might consider all that we do as worship – things like making phone calls, writing email, even washing dishes, doing laundry. We were wrestling with how we do this because we are weak humans who often fail. And you had several bright people around the table with seminary degrees, doctorate degrees, and years and years of ministry experience. And then one of our young college interns, without seminary training, but with God’s grace, spoke.  

He said that Moses, in Exodus chapter 3, is wondering before God “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” When Moses says, “Suppose I say the God of your fathers has sent me, and they ask, “What is his name?”, what shall I tell them?”

God said, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites, “I am has sent me to you.”

So our college intern said this…

I need to quit looking at who I am… so I can see the great I am. The great I am is Yahweh, God almighty, creator and provider, who saves and empowers who I am, and enables me to do good works that I was created to do, for his glory!

God’s grace calls us to action – We love others because God first loved us. Glenn has described it that we are not to be human cul-de-sacs where grace comes and hits a dead end. We are blessed to be a blessing. We are called to bless others because God has blessed us.

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

         God’s handiwork                           God’s craftsmanship 

Eph 2:10 says in the NIV we are God’s workmanship. I like two other translations a little better, we are God’s handiwork , or God’s craftsmanship. Isn’t it good news to know that your mind, body, and soul is made by a craftsman – an expert – hand made – not mass produced. You are unique, made with a purpose.  

Ephesians 2:10 goes on to say that we are “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Wow! We are created in Christ Jesus – made by the craftsman – unique. To do good good works – not just to live a ho-hum life – but to touch others, to act, to live, to find our place. We are called to discover our gifts in God’s grace, develop them, and use them in the places where we are supposed to. Praise God for that!

I’ll never forget that my youth pastor in high school basically force me to go to a movie with him in 1981, it was called Chariots of Fire – it was voted best picture and is worth a rental if you can find it.

Two runners for Great Britain in the early twentieth century competed against each other hard but gained respect for one another and even friendship. Harold Abrahams, who was jealous of his rival Eric Liddell and had a hard time understanding his faith, said to Liddell, “You're brave, compassionate, kind: a content man. That is your secret, contentment; I am 24 (years old) and I've never know it. I'm forever in pursuit and I don't even know what I am chasing.”  

Eric Liddell was an Olympic athlete, but as a Christian had other goals – and eventually became a missionary serving God in China. But he also liked to run. It was one of God’s gifts to him, in God’s grace – uniquely made. Here is what he said about running,

Slide - “I believe God made me for China, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure.” Where can you sense God’s pleasure in your own life?

In sort of a strange way, I feel God’s pleasure when I have the opportunity to perform a funeral or memorial service for a family. They are hurting and in a time of need. And I believe God has called me to help them with compassion, with the truth of his word, and to care for them in a time of need. When I have the opportunity to sit with a family and hear their stories and share scripture, it can remind them of their great love for a family member – and together we can bring honor to that person’s memory and to God – it feels right.

Recently, I was asked to do a memorial service of a grandmother. As I met with the family, her husband, said he had found a journal of hers and asked me to look at it. We found that she had recently written the verse Zephaniah 3:17 in her journal and she had written beside it that she had memorized it. Here it is:

 The LORD your God is with you,
 he is mighty to save.
 He will take great delight in you,
 he will quiet you with his love,
 he will rejoice over you with singing."

It tells of God’s great love for us. It was uplifting that with her husband’s permission we could share that memory with family and friends at her service.

If you think God’s gifts are for super Christians or that people like pastors have it all figured out, we don’t. I can’t fix a leaky sink, and sometimes I can’t fix a phone call or a relationship I messed up. God can fix things. He can take my life, dead to sin, and make it new. He can take your skills, abilities, and gifts, and with his life flowing through you, use those gifts to bring pleasure and joy to you - and to him.  

God said to the apostle Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.” We don’t boast in our skills or our victories, but boast in Christ, that he will have the glory, of working in us and through us – right where we are.

Pastor and author John Ortberg tells the story of a shuttle bus driver at an airport – often a thankless job. Ortberg says, this man was different though, he was “scanning the curb, looking or anyone who needed a ride. “You know, I’m always looking because sometimes people are running late. You can tell it in their eyes. I’m always looking because I never want to miss one, Hey there’s another one!”

He pulled over to pick up a latecomer, and he was so excited that we got excited. It was like watching Jesus drive a shuttle bus. He would grab people’s luggage before they could lift it and jump back in the bus and say, “Well we’re off. I know you’re all eager to get there as quickly as possible, so I’m going to get you there as soon as I can.”  

Jaded commuters put down their papers, people wanted to ride around the terminal a second time just to hang out with this guy – he wasn’t just our shuttle bus driver, he was our leader; he was our friend.  

Ortberg goes on to say, “Every once in a while you do something that surprises you and you catch a glimpse of the person you were meant to be. You say something inspirational at a meeting. You help a homeless man when no one notices. You are patient with rambunctious 3 year old. You lose yourself in a piece of music. You express compassion. You freely make a sacrificial gift. You fix an engine. You say something you would never normally say or you keep from saying something you would normally blurt out.  

As you do, you glimpse for a moment why God made you. Only God knows your full potential and he is guiding you towards it – not in a hurry. He delights when you grow. God has many good works for you to do, but they are not like “to do” lists we give our spouses or employees, they are signposts to your true self – who God designed you to be.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” Where do you need to receive God’s grace? Pray to receive it, for the first time or for the 1,000th time! If you need help in this, please talk to someone who can help you ask for God’s grace.

Ephesians 2:10 says, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Where is God calling you to give his grace to others? Where do you sense God’s pleasure in your life?

And how do we find that? Find out what your spiritual gifts are through a spiritual gift test. See one on the zpc.org website.

Starting today, I encourage you to have self awareness to things you enjoy doing – that bring you pleasure and purpose – and that also bring honor and pleasure to God. Spend more time doing those things – Look for ways even this week in God’s grace to give him thanks for what he’s done through who you are.

As I close us in prayer I’d like to model the type of prayer that you might pray this week to both receive God’s grace and for God to show us how to share it. Let us pray.