Well, good morning. It's good.
To be with you. This morning.
Couple of weeks ago, Elon Musk launched his latest commercial
venture. Called XAI.
If you look on the website for XAI, you'll.
See pictures of very, very intelligent looking people and
you'll be able to read the the tagline on the mission statement
of what XAI? Is all about.
And this being Elon Musk, it's suitably modest.
Here's the. Here's the.
Tagline, Here's the. Goal of what?
They're trying to do to understand the true.
Nature of the Universe To understand the true nature of
the universe. Well, that's that's a laudable
goal, but unfortunately I think. XAI will not be successful
because I don't think what. Paul has got to tell us this
morning in our text is on Elon's radar.
More on that in a moment. Well, in Ephesians so far we've
seen Paul has been praying. For the Ephesian Christians,
he's been praying, as we saw last week, if you were.
Here that they would know. God better.
He's been praying, particularly that they would know God's love
and God's. Power for them.
That's in chapter one, verse 19. I guess Paul could have ended
his letter at the end of chapter one and it would have been A.
Great little letter there in our Bibles, it would have been.
A prayer letter. It would have been something
that would. Shape our prayers.
He could have ended it there, but Paul wants to write more and
part. Of what Paul wants to do is to
begin to answer his own. Prayer through what he?
Writes, Paul writes. So that the Ephesian Christians
would know. God better and the way that.
Paul does that in our text today is by reminding them, reminding
the Ephesian Christians. Of all that God.
Has done for them, so Paul wants to remind reminders are
important for us, aren't they? Whether it's to do lists or Rd.
signs, Diaries, anniversaries, daily triggers for our memory,
forgetting can be. Embarrassing or worse, our
spiritual lives need to be full of reminders.
Too. Like the Ephesian Christians, we
too need reminding we are. A forgetful people when we.
Forget the gospel when we stop. Feasting our eyes on it the.
Ways of the world become more real to us than the.
Ways of God. The the gospel leaks out of us.
We begin to take on the patterns of thinking that we see around.
We begin to to read our lives and our experiences.
Through through a grid. Through the grid that the
culture. Around us gives.
So can I suggest that our weakest faculty is our spiritual
memory? And so we need regularly to be
reminded. Of the gospel, and that's what
Paul. Does for us here.
So how does? Paul work to remind the Ephesian
Christians how does he set things up in these.
Verses that. We're going to be looking at
this morning, which is. Ephesians Chapter 2, verses 1 to
10. If you have that text open.
In front of you. That would be really helpful.
I'm going to be using the ES. Version and I will.
I'll read that. Passage now so Ephesians chapter
2, verses 1 to 10 and you were. Dead in the trespasses and sins
in which you once walked following the.
Course of this world. Following the Prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that is now at work.
In the sons of disobedience, among whom we all.
Once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the
desires of the body and the mind, and we're by nature.
Children of Roth like the rest of mankind, but God being rich
in mercy. Because of the great love with
which? He loved us even when we were
dead in our trust. Trespasses made us alive
together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.
And raised up with him, and seated us with him in the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he
might show the immeasurable. Riches of his.
Grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.
For my grace you have been saved through faith, and this is.
Not your own doing. It is the gift of.
God not. A result of works.
So that no man may boast. For we are God's.
Workmanship created in Christ. Jesus for good works which God
prepared. Beforehand that we should.
In them. Amen.
Well, one way of thinking about what Paul is doing.
Here is that it's to think of Paul painting a picture,
actually painting 2 pictures with a hinge.
In between in between them. Now that the fancy word for.
This is a diptych. And so I've got on the heading
there Paul's Diptych, Ephesians 2 one to 10.
Now in each of these two pictures that Paul paints.
On the left, on the right, he's got 3 things that he wants to
say. Three things.
First of all, about life before. Christ and three things about
life after. Someone has become.
The Christian and so. Here's here's Paul's diptick.
Here's how it goes on the left hand side he says in verses 1:00
to 3:00. You were dead.
You were dead because of these three things.
The. Course of this world, the devil,
the desires of the body and mind.
And so you were by nature children of Roth walking in sin.
So that's the left hand. Side of the diptych on the right
hand side in Paul's second picture.
Second painting. The picture of a Christian now
you have been saved through being three things, made alive
with Christ, raised up with Christ, seated with Christ.
By grace, you are God's workmanship.
And now walking in. Goods works.
That's the structure. That I want to unpack for this
text in Ephesians. Let's look a little bit more.
Closely at Paul's painting, first of all the left hand side.
Of the. Diptych versus 1/2.
You were dead. How are we to assess human
nature? Some people think that humanity
is yet there. There are problems, but humanity
is basically. Fixable.
The right combination of politics, economics,
philanthropy, education, trade, can can sort things out.
Can can help us to make progress.
Other people, well, they face the issues of global warming
head on. They think about a I They think
well if rising temperatures and sea levels.
Don't get us a I sure will. It will make humanity redundant.
So some folks are optimistic and some folks are pessimistic, but
almost nobody in the kind of public square is saying what?
Paul is saying here almost nobody reaches this conclusion
that you see there in verse one. That people are already.
Dead. You were dead.
Sis Paul. Paul.
Looks out on the. World full of activity, full of
ideas and inventions, emotions. Joys, sorrows, and Paul sees it
as one great cemetery. What is Paul saying?
He's saying that. People who live without God,
however, however physically fit and mentally alert, however
polite, kind, respectable. They may.
Be are actually the living dead. It's a shocking picture, but how
can it be? Well, unconsciousness is a.
Characteristic of death and in the same way someone can be
alive, but they can be unconscious.
To the whole spiritual realm, people can be.
Unresponsive to God, not in touch, not aware.
Of what God is. Doing in their lives day by day?
Well, how might people respond to both statements?
Or some. People might say this is just
rubbish. Of course we're alive.
We're more alive than we've ever been.
Look. At What Humanity Can Do, it's
you Christians who are dead. We're more alive.
You need to get with the project you need to.
Wake up. Stop.
Just thinking about life and get on and.
Live life. It is a curious thing that so
many people cling on to life without really knowing quite.
What it's. Supposed to be about?
What is life for the Irish playwright Oscar?
Wilde said this. To live is the rarest thing in
the. World most.
People exist, that's all. Besides that, don't.
Don't people say things like the friendship evaporated, the
marriage died? Family life ceased.
He's nothing. To me anymore.
So why can't God say something similar if someone has lived
their whole life making 10s of thousands of decisions without
any reference to God if they've never given a moment's?
Thought to God, Well, there is no relationship, is there?
That person is dead. To God.
So Paul then reminds the Ephesian Christians of what they
once. Were you were dead?
He says, and then he goes on in verse 2 and he talks about the
ways that they once walked. So it's the living.
Dead Paul's choice of language is interesting.
Isn't it walked. He doesn't say Run.
It's not, it's not wild and violent language is it walking?
It's kind of the most. Normal thing people do.
It's measured, calm, leisurely, respectable even, and yet
utterly dead. How can that?
Be well, Paul goes on now to add in some detail into his
painting. On this left hand side he adds
in some shades of darkness to it by telling us of three powers.
That led people. That has led him to this bleak
conclusion and the three things of the world.
The Devil. And the desires of body and
mind. Let's look at each of those
three things in turn. Verse.
Two talks about the course of this world.
Paul tells people that they can be in.
Cultural bondage. Cultural bondage.
Verse 2. People can drift along in the
current. Of this world's.
Ideas of living Now in the case of the Ephesians, this would
have been probably shaped by the goddess Artemis that we read.
About in in X, Chapter 19 in our Climate, of course, we don't
have Artemis, but we have plenty of other influences that operate
in the same way. That she did back then.
People often like to think that they're free.
I choose my life, I make my decisions.
And yet, actually, most of us are shaped very much.
By the culture in which we live, most of the time we really want
to fit. In most of the time it's just
easier to accept the values and the.
Ways of the culture. Around us and a grid.
Kind of develops, which determines often how we see
life, how we measure things, how we order.
Priorities, what we think of as valuable.
When people try to kind of step back and justify their grid,
well, it's it's very hard to. It's just kind of there all the
time. So that's the first power that
Paul talks. About the course of this world.
The second power there's two, the Prince of the.
Power of the air. That is the devil.
The third. Power the desires of the body.
And the mind? The body so central isn't it to
Western living, to Western culture, the.
Insatiable appetites always seeking newer.
Always seeking more people, often for whom these passions
are out of. You can see them in the center
of any city. Late at night, late on a Friday
or Saturday night, or on the darker recesses of the Internet.
But notice that Paul quickly adds a second thing here,
doesn't he? The Desires of the Mind, another
central plank of Western. Culture what?
I think What is Paul covering here Well?
These are less obvious things things self-confidence.
Pride condemning others who are different to me.
Racism, self righteousness, envy.
Assuming that what I decide is true and you can see these.
Attitudes Well, where? Where can you see them in the
nice leafy suburbs? In the smarter parts of Town 3
powers then that are very active in this first painting that Paul
gives us on the left hand. Side the course of the world.
The devil and the desires. The body.
And mind and Paul's Paul the Painter's conclusion here in
verse. Have a look at it there.
His conclusion that? We are or we were children of
wrath. You see it there.
Really. Can we accept that?
Is that really likely to be true in our day and age?
Well, someone who doesn't believe in God will likely
dismiss this out of hands, surely?
We're modern people. Seems such an oldfashioned.
If there is a God he's not going to be like.
This Ross will be a very unattractive attribute.
For him to have isn't he supposed to be a loving God?
Yet how would that same person respond if one of their loved
ones was the victim of violence? Surely feelings of anger and a
passion for justice would would spontaneously well.
Up inside of them? Or again, what would God be like
if he didn't hate sin? If if he loved sin.
And rebellion and violence. I imagine that our world would
be a very different place than the world.
As it is, I suppose ultimately the rejection of.
God and the idea that he can be angry shows again the influence
of that grid. On people's ways of.
Seeing life if people see a life.
Through a grid that doesn't take sin seriously, then they're not
likely to take God's. Condemnation of sin.
Seriously. Either are they?
And so Paul completes the first. Half of his dipsych and it's a
dark portrait, isn't it? If it was in an art in an art
gallery, there'd be howls of protest.
Well, we come to the hinge in Paul's dipstick.
You can't put that up in here. Take it down.
People don't want to see that, sort of.
That holds the two. Together, have a look there at
the 1st 2 words of verse 4. But God but God.
You could say that these two words sum up the whole gospel if
you're ever in a place where someone asks you what you
believe and you don't have very long to answer.
Just say but God, maybe the whole theme of the Bible is
there, encapsulated in those two.
Words but. God a turning point.
The Gospel begins where. Men and women ends.
Whereas Doctor Martin Lloyd Jones puts it Man's extremity is
God's opportunity we have run from.
Gods, but God has not run from. US Jr.
Tolkien Said the Gospel. Is sudden miraculous grace, and
Paul is going to show us that none of us contribute anything.
In this to this hinge. After all, we were dead.
How could we? And what a sudden surprise it
is, isn't it? From talking about wrath in
verse three, suddenly now talking about love.
In verse 4, Wrath and Love meets.
At this hinge and so we can see that the hinge is talking.
About the cross, God's wrath, God's love, both of them are
personal. Aren't they God?
We we learn from this that God is not an impersonal.
Force but a personal God. A God who relates to humanity
with infinite holiness and infinite.
Love somehow, these two things, Roth and lover.
Are held together. In God's character, his constant
hostility to evil in all its forms, and his tender
compassion. Towards a helpless dead people.
And suddenly, as we cross over the hinge, we're in another
land. Before we were in the land
controlled by the devil, and now we're in the land.
Controlled by the good king. So let's then move.
To see the beauty of the 2nd. Painting in Paul's Dipsy in
verse three he said once you were this way by nature and now
in verse five he. Says you are this way by grace.
Do you see that? Contrast in the language what we
were when we were. Left to ourselves.
And what we are now that God has stepped.
In to our lives. But God because of the great
love with which he loved. US in verse 4.
Why did God pursue us? Here we come back to Elon Musk
and his quest. What is the true nature of the
universe? What is at the very center of
the universe? The heart of all.
Things The Bible's answer Love. Love is the most central reality
in the universe because God is at the center of the universe
and he is an eternal and beautiful relationship of love.
Why did God create the universe to share His love with others?
Why does God step into a dark place, the dark place of verses
one to three here, to share his love with others?
According to these verses. What does God's love?
Well, many many things but here. One of the things love does is
it accelerates. Salvation Love accelerates
salvation. Look at verse five.
What does Paul? Say you have been saved.
You have been saved so profound that he repeats himself later on
at. Verse 8 Doesn't he?
Now these words are so familiar to us that we gloss.
Over them we say. Yes, you're right, I know that.
On to the next thing. But actually these words are.
Shocking and they are stunning and they are revolutionary.
You see in the in the Jewish religion of the time when
Ephesians was written, you could be a.
Good Jew. And you could follow all the
laws. But you had to wait until you
died to know where you stood with God.
In our day, it's the same with all the world's.
Religions with, Islam with. There's no assurance that now I
have a relationship with God. Even secular people are future.
Thinking, Yeah, people talk about.
Living in the moment. But actually they're not living
in the moment. They're living for the future.
Listen to what the French rider. Blaise Pascal says.
We are never. Satisfied with the present, we
scarcely ever. Think of the present.
If we do, it is only to obtain. Light to organize the future.
People are future. But Paul says something.
Amazing, he says. You have.
Been saved in the. First painting that Paul showed
us. He talked about accelerated
death. You aren't dead.
Now he's talking about accelerated salvation.
And that's what love brings. And there is nothing like this
anywhere else in the world. And no other religion, no other
worldview, no other story by which people live.
Has got anything like? This to say, it's revolutionary.
How is? This salvation possible?
Well. Paul is not explicit here.
He doesn't mention the cross, but the little phrase.
There being. Rich in Mercy verse.
Four, being rich in most surely points us to the cross.
How does it do that? Well, mercy is costly.
You know that in your own experience, to forgive someone
is costly. Why?
Because it because to. Forgive someone.
You have to absorb the hurt you have to.
Absorb the offence. And let it go, which is what God
did. Didn't he?
He absorbed. The sin.
There's no easy mercy. Or cheap grace.
And only love can be the source of that kind of forgiveness.
That's what for. This for is telling us because
of the great love with which he loved.
Why can only love be the source of forgiveness?
Because true. Love is unconditional.
If I say I love you because you're good.
What happens if you stop? Performing if love.
Depends on physical appearance or or smartness or income.
What happens when those things are gone?
Love is unconditional. Love loves because it loves.
Which is tremendously freeing when you think about it, because
if love is the. Basis of our relationship.
Then it no longer depends on my performance.
I don't need to be insecure in that relationship.
I don't need to be insecure in my relationship with God.
So then, love at the heart. Of God, and at the heart of the
universe that. God has made I.
Wonder how quickly are you able? To remind yourself of that fact.
Love at the heart of the universe or.
Or is it just an idea or just words?
What is the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?
Maybe a a spectacular. Place some.
A piece of art, an act of kindness.
A friendship? Your spouse?
A newborn child. Do you realize that all these
wonderful, amazing good things are but a reflection of a deeper
beauty, the beauty of the love of God?
And friends, there's no. Limit to the kind of
contemplation. That we can have of God's love.
No limit. Why do I say that?
Look at verse. 7 Paul talks about immeasurable.
Riches. Immeasurable riches.
Are you enjoying them? Are you indulging in this love?
Is it a feast for you or have other loves?
Taken over, have other loves. Displaced this love financial.
Sporting. Family.
Leisure. They're not bad things.
But are those things closer to your heart than God's love?
Are your loves rightly ordered or are they disordered?
Last week I bumped into a friend of mine in the shops and I was
asking him about his family and how they were doing and he was
telling me about his granddaughter and he said as she
works on a super. Yacht Right now she's somewhere
in the Pacific. Ocean between Tahiti and Fiji,
he said. I.
Can't begin to comprehend that kind of wealth.
And then we were standing in pack and save in the household
cleaning products aisle. Among the large, medium and
small bin bags and with the smell of disinfectant in the
air. And I couldn't help thinking,
yeah, wouldn't it be wonderful? And later on I reminded myself
of what Paul is. Paint.
What Paul is painting? Here, immeasurable riches,
greater riches. Than can be found.
Anywhere in the world. Well, Paul now.
Paints in in some detail in the second painting.
Just as he painted. In the first, but now rather
than grey tones, he's using glorious Technicolor 3 colors.
Three things God has done for us in Christ.
Verse five made us alive with Christ, raised us up with
Christ, seated us with Christ. These three events are about
Christ, but suddenly they're also about us.
This is. The language of love in Christ
with Christ. And do you see the implication
of what Paul is saying here? As a Christian, I don't have
anything left to prove. Not in the office.
Not in my marriage. Not in church.
Not in family life. Because I am utterly and
completely secure in. Christ when I'm.
Criticized I have deep. Roots to face it, I have
resources basically to cope with.
Anything in life because. I am in Christ I.
Wonder if you sometimes think to yourself, You know, I'm not
really I I don't. Feel I'm good enough to pray.
I don't feel I can sing those songs that we've sung this
morning because you know that the way that I behaved, I don't.
Feel I can do it. Look at the six.
What does it say? Seated God has seated us with
Christ in the heavenly places. Where am I?
God loves me. That's my position.
I'm. One last thing that Paul wants
to show us in this. Right hand painting that Chapter
2, verse 10. Have a look at that.
We are his. Workmanship created in Christ
Jesus. Paul moves from this incredible,
incredible tapestry of what Christ has achieved for us to
suddenly talking about us. The way we walk has changed from
verse 2. Remember, he said you.
Once walked this way. To verse 10.
Now this is how you should walk. You see, our salvation is not
only a rescue, but a recreation. Not only a rescue but a
recreation. Paul doesn't unpack here what he
means by good works. Can I suggest that?
That's because he wants us to have a.
Very wide view of. Them and why would?
That not be the case. After all, we've come back to
life. Now we're to live a new life in
every domain of our existence. Yes, in church, but also in the
office in the factory. In school, In leisure.
In the lecture hall on the Internet.
On the sports field at the shops.
In all these areas, we are to walk.
In good works. I wonder what God has got lined
up for you this week. In the way of good works.
And non Christian friends might accuse us of being out of touch
with life and with the world. But Paul?
Paints a vision of people who are ready to serve the world.
So Paul wants to remind the Ephesian Christians, and through
what he's written here, the Holy Spirit is reminding each one of.
Us this morning. I guess the more you see
yourself. As having been in picture one.
The more you'll be able to enjoy and rejoice in being.
In picture 2. And to appreciate the hinge, but
God. Why an illustration about a
painting? How is that an appropriate
metaphor for what Paul is? Doing here.
Well, because I think Paul wants the Ephesian Christians to see
that the, to see the. Beauty of the painting, the
beauty of the gospel. The most beautiful thing.
In all of creation the beauty of the.
Gospel and of the gods, who has? Made it known to.
Us let me ask. You Has that beauty captured
your hearts? Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for these verses.
We thank you that you stepped. In when we were.
Dead in our sins. We thank you.
For your Grace, We thank you. For the beauty.
And the wonder of the gospel. Make it to be the most
beautiful. Thing in our lives the.
Thing that we contemplate and the.
Thing that we enjoy in all its richness as we come to.
In Jesus name on there.