God’s Incredible Grace – Ephesians 2:1-10

Good morning church! Happy Resurrection Sunday to all! We’re so glad that you’ve joined us this morning & our desire is that our lives would be radically changed as we humbly listen to God’s Word this morning.

Today is obviously a special, anticipated Sunday in churches all across the world. Just out of curiosity, I wanted to understand what was the general perception of Resurrection Sunday or Easter in India and so I checked up a few news articles and this was I figured:

1. It’s one of the most attended services in the year. People typically come in large numbers dressed in white.
2. Food: In a lot of traditional churches, Resurrection Sunday comes after 40 days of observing lent where they have abstained from eating meat or alcohol. And so Resurrection Sunday is the “joyful break” from abstinence where you’ll have dining tables filled with all kinds of delicious meals & sweets.
3. Family Gatherings: It’s also one of those times of the year when extended families come together and have a massive celebration.

One of the contributors to one of those articles put it this way “Easter for us is not just about the resurrection of Christ, it is about togetherness, gratitude and sharing love through food”. According to many, resurrection Sunday is not just about Jesus, it’s Jesus + a lot of other things.

On the other hand, I wanted to understand if people in the US felt differently about Resurrection Sunday. And interestingly most Americans believe that Jesus rose again from the dead on that first Resurrection Sunday. They are just not sure it matters much.

So be it in the US or India, there seems to be a common thread where people may celebrate Resurrection Sunday as a festival, they may even believe that Jesus rose from the dead but they simply don’t see any relevance for their daily lives.

And in a stark contrast to how people perceive the relevance of Resurrection Sunday, today’s passage tells us that the Resurrection of Jesus opens the door for God’s incredible grace to come to us. It’s not to say that food, family gatherings and services are bad things.

But if that’s all that comes to your mind when you think about Resurrection Sunday, then you are missing out on so much more. You are missing out on receiving the most incredible gift that God intends to give you. So don’t settle for anything less.

Why is it “God’s Incredible Grace”? Why not just say “God’s grace”?

1. Because of our desperate need for grace – Because of how much we needed that grace  (v1-3)

[1]  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] 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— [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

The apostle Paul doesn’t mince his words. That’s because he knew that we need to fully understand the bad news before we arrive at the good news. It’s like going to a doctor who’s done a comprehensive diagnosis of your health. Before he gets to prescribing the medication, it’s critical that he tells you what’s exactly wrong.

Paul starts by telling us that we were dead in our sins. Note that he doesn’t say that we were bruised in our sins, he doesn’t say we were badly injured in our sins. He says that we were “dead” in our sins. We were lifeless corpses spiritually is how he put it.

On the outside, we might be walking, talking and breathing but on the inside we are spiritually dead meaning that we don’t have a desire to please God. We really don’t want to live under His rule and to be frank we don’t want anything to do with Him because we want to sit on the throne seat of our lives.

It’s interesting that he uses two different words to describe sin – trespasses and sins. Trespasses refers to deliberate sins, willfully crossing the boundaries that God has set. Sins on the other hand is a broad, umbrella term which means missing the mark, failing to meet God’s standards & the unfortunate part is that that is our default setting. Everything that we do by default misses the mark & fails to meet God’s Holy standards.

And so we’ve already hit a roadblock in V1 because from what it seems is that our problem is not just that we every now and then willfully cross the boundaries that God sets for us (that’s trespasses). Our problem is that “sin” is our default setting – by nature everything that we think, say or do misses the mark – it fails to meet God’s Holy standards.

And then V2 takes it one step further. It tells us that “we followed the course of this world” meaning that our only ambition in life was to live for this temporary physical world assuming that there is nothing eternal to look forward to. “khaao, piyo, maze karo” – “You Only Live Once” – that was the motto of our lives.

And then it says “following the prince of power of the air”. Who is that? That’s Satan. In other words, it’s saying that we were directly controlled & influenced by Satan. How does he do that? Through deception and condemnation – that’s how he controls and influences us.

It goes on to say that Satan is “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” – He plays an active part in the lives of unbelievers by making them stubbornly oppose God’s will. Nobody is on neutral ground. If we’re not under King Jesus’ rule, we should have no doubt that we are under Satan’s rule! There is no neutral territory.

But it’s not only that we were controlled by Satan, but we’re driven by sinful passions and cravings.

 V3. among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind

According to this verse, it seems like alot of our time & energies are spent in fulfilling our sinful passions and cravings. A Lot of our investment goes into living a life of indulgence. Mind you this is not just limited to a few rotten apples. This applies to every human being which is why Paul says “among whom we all once lived” – so he’s including himself in this category.

And if we honestly examine our own hearts, we would agree. Why is it that we end up thinking and doing things that we know are forbidden? Why does our mind constantly keep going in that direction? Why do we often find ourselves in regretful positions realizing that we invested so much time and energy into fulfilling our sinful cravings that promised much but delivered nothing? We’re left with only empty hearts and tremendous guilt.

Then the final nail in the coffin – and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind – By our inherent nature, we were children of God’s anger and punishment! It’s a humbling thing to realize that we may have been the apple of our parent’s eyes, we might have only seen praise and appreciation from our friends and colleagues, but that doesn’t change our status of being children of wrath – children who by nature deserve God’s anger and punishment.

This bad news is extremely bad for us because it reveals how utterly helpless we were to deal with sin & its consequences. We desperately need grace, but it’s not incredible grace just because our need is so great. It is God’s incredible grace…

2. Because of His showering of grace – He lavished His grace on us (v4-7)

[4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Though we are children of wrath, God has chosen to deal with us differently than what we deserved or what we expected. It’s because God is “rich in mercy” – He is extremely generous in showing compassion to those who are afflicted or in a miserable state.

because of the great love with which he loved us – The word used for love is agape which is self-sacrificial, unconditional love. It’s an action word not simply a feeling or an emotion. It required self-sacrifice on God’s part to show us that kind of love. We just celebrated Good Friday a couple of days back – and the scandal of the cross is that on that cross, the Son of God was treated as a son of disobedience and a child of wrath. God was making His Son pay the hefty price for all of our misdeeds. 

And all of this happened, while we were still dead in our trespasses. Look at V5.

even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ

It didn’t happen while we were showing signs of recovery or signs of improvement. Dead people don’t show signs of recovery or improvement, dead people need resurrection. And so while we were still lifeless corpses, God decided to awaken and resurrect us!

People who were spiritually dead would be spiritually awakened or resurrected by putting their faith in Jesus. They would now be given the capacity to please God, to submit willingly under God’s rule and to love Him.

Not only would they be spiritually awakened, but they will also be physically awakened or resurrected when Jesus returns again. They will be given a body that resembles the glorified body of Jesus after He came back from the dead.

 V6. and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

This verse tells us that we will get to reign with Christ in heaven. A certain measure of His authority will be shared with us. It’s like obtaining a VIP seat at the throne and table of God. It’s unbelievable to think that that’s the position that is being shared with us as a result of our union with Christ.

God takes this union very seriously – and so if we’ve put our faith in Jesus, we get to share in all the achievements and privileges of Jesus Christ. It’s like once a couple is married, everything that they own (possessions, achievements and privileges) is now shared with one another. The church is also referred to as the bride of Christ. So God takes that union seriously!

Did we deserve any of this? Absolutely no. If all that God did was hold off His wrath on us, we would be more than happy. None of us would complain because we know where we were heading because of our sins. But to think that God has given us way more than we can even think or imagine is mind blowing. 

Why did God do this?  so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  This is God’s way of showing the length and breadth of His grace as He shows it to sinners like us.

Estimates say that the Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant wedding costed about 600 million USD. Now the Ambani’s have great wealth and the extravagant wedding was an opportunity to put their great wealth on display. And it’s almost like God is putting His immeasurable riches of grace, the extravagance of His grace on display by showering, splurging it on people who don’t deserve it at all.

It is God’s incredible grace not only because of our desperate need & God’s showering of grace, it is incredible…

3. Because we are also shaped by grace – He is transforming and changing us by grace

• We are being shaped in humility (v8-9)

[8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

One of the repeated ideas in this passage is how we didn’t do anything to deserve or earn what we have received in Christ. It’s all God’s unmerited favor! All we needed to do is take Jesus at His word and trust in Him & His work, and all of this would be true for us.

It’s like the thief on the cross – the most remarkable thing is that the thief didn’t have any time to demonstrate a changed and improved Christian life. Many of our churches wouldn’t have granted membership to the thief on the cross because of His past life and yet, just because He believed in who Jesus is and what Jesus said, we’ll find the thief reigning with Christ in heaven!

And every other person who we will find in heaven is also going to be there not because of their sheer hard work or their self-discipline. They are going to be there simply because they received the gift of God in faith. That’s it.

That in itself eliminates every reason to boast or pride in ourselves because we had nothing to do with it. Our boasting and pride is being stripped away. And in its place, humility is being shaped in our hearts as we are reminded that salvation was all God and nothing from us. Our contribution was zero. That’s what humbles us.

• We are being shaped with purpose

[10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

This verse tells us that We are His workmanship – God’s designed products, His crafted masterpieces, Created in Christ Jesus for good works– shaped in Christ Jesus for good works

We are not saved by good works – saved by grace but we are saved unto good works. When people hear us and see our good works, they should be able to lift the label / seal and know that this is God’s branded design. They should know that this is God’s crafted masterpiece which God had prepared and envisioned in eternity past.

The image of God thinking and planning and ordaining what His workmanship would be like before the foundations of the world. So can a believer ever say that his or her life is meaningless? Can he or she ever say that their life doesn’t have any purpose? No, you absolutely do. You are God’s workmanship to point others to the God of incredible grace.

As we sit here on this Resurrection Sunday, we need to reckon with the fact that the bad news of our sin is much worse than we thought. But at the same time, God’s grace is more incredible than we would have thought or dreamed of. From being dead in sins & a child of wrath to being alive in Christ & a child of grace who will one day sit and reign with Christ. This is incredible grace my friends!