Sunday's Sermon

First, thanks to all of you who have asked how things went on Sunday. I appreciate your concern. Sermons are hard business. Monologuing for 25 minutes is no easy feat for me, and having something worth while to say is my main concern. Still, God is faithful. He reminds me that all I have to do is deliver the words He gives me faithfully and accurately. He takes care of applying them to people's lives. After all, He is their shepherd... I guess that makes me the sheep dog.

Here is the transcript from my sermon on Sunday. There were some more filler comments, but this was the majority of what I said. I would appreciate you looking over it, fresh eyes always make sure I am being true to Scripture.

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 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. For it is by grace you have been saved though 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 beforehand for us to do. Ephesians 2:4-10

I wish we had time to unpack all of the different layers of this passage. I wish we had time to talk about how this revelation changed and shaped the early church. I wish we had time to talk about how these verses changed and shaped the Western world as we know it.

But 30 minutes is such a short time for a passage like this. So what I want to spend our time on today is meditating on the goodness, mercy and grace of God revealed to us in Christ Jesus.

"[God] made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved." v5.

While we were still sinners, God sent his son, Jesus, to be our atoning sacrifice so that we might have life and fellowship with Him through the Spirit. While we were still sinners, God loved us. While we were still sinners, God knew what He needed to do to draw us back to Himself.

God has no "Plan B." Jesus is, was and always will be God's plan to draw humanity into deeper relation and revelation of Himself. From before the foundation of the world, God knew how this would all plan out.

God knew Adam would fall. God knew Adam and Eve would eat the fruit.

God knew things would go from bad to worse in short order. God knew that in one generation the spirit of murder would enter the human race. God knew that within ten generations from Adam, humanity would grow so evil, so corrupt that He would have to destroy everyone except Noah and his family. God knew that He would have to limit the span of human life to 120 years, or else mankind's own depravity would create a literal hell on earth.

But God also knew that love: pure, selfless, humble, sacrificial and persistent love could bring us back.

The Old Testament is full of love language from God to His people. One need only read Jeremiah or Song of Songs to hear the deep heartache of God for His people. King David spoke boldly of God's love for him and his love for God. The Prophets continue to bear witness to God's love and plan for redemption, the coming King.

Jesus came to set us free. He came when all of humanity was in bondage to sin, religious duty and obligation. He came at a time when humanity was utterly unable to save itself.

Jesus came to show us what God is like. He came to show us what God's Kingdom is like, to give us hope that life can be different than what we experience now. We don't have to remain in relational brokenness, sexual immorality, physical disease or indifference towards life in general. Jesus dies to set us free from all of that.

When Jesus died, we were justified in God's sight. We moved from being guilty to being innocent - not because of anything we did, but because we trust in what Jesus accomplished for us.

Accepting the work of Jesus on the cross is an act of faith - it is trust in the character, faithfulness and affections of God towards you. Accepting that work of Jesus means we put down our striving, we give up trying to clean ourselves up in order to present ourselves acceptably to God. We no longer do things so that God will like us more and have mercy on us. Instead, we operate from a place of confidence that God does love us, already, and that we are free to live in confidence before Him.

And that faith we have in God, that is not even our own - it is a gift from God. He wants us to come to Him, so He continues to prove Himself faithful. He gives us faith, he offers us a better life now that we could ever have made for ourselves.

Christians have sold the idea that salvation equals not going to hell for so long that we have actually begun to believe it. Surely, that is part, but salvation is so much more.

We have to get away from equating salvation with justification. Salvation speaks of the fullness, the completeness, the health and vitality of God made manifest in your life. Salvation is when you have the full force of God's character, Kingdom, power and authority behind you because you are so much like Jesus, God can't tell the difference!

Justification is our legal status before God. It is moving from guilty to innocent. This is a necessary part of salvation, but, by itself, is incomplete. We must add to justification something called sanctification.

Sanctification is the process of becoming more and more like Jesus every day. It is conforming our selves to His will even as we lay aside our own.

Sanctification is doing the same things Jesus did for the same reasons He did them.

Jesus healed the sick - not for personal fame or glory, but because He had compassion on them. He saw people in bondage to Satan. He saw people who could not free themselves. He saw people who has the joy of the Lord and the peace of living in His Kingdom stolen from them. Jesus healed the sick to set people free, to begin establishing His Kingdom here on the earth.

Paul says in verse 10 that we are God's workmanship. We were created to do good works with right motivation. If you read your Bible because that is what you think "good" Christians do, you are missing the mark. That time will not be as beneficial to you as it could have been. We read the Bible because in it we find out more about God. We are hungry to hear His words, to know His thoughts, to understand His emotions and who He is.

The Bible is our launching pad into the heart of God. This is where our relationship begins. God still speaks. He has given us His Spirit to teach us, guide us, remind us and encourage us.

God wants us to have a vibrant and living relationship with Himself, right now. He had sent His Son to clear the way. He has sent His Spirit to encourage and equip us along our way.

It is God's desire to be with you and for you to be with him. He will do all that is necessary to make that happen. However, we have a part too. We have to trust Him, we have to put forth effort to follow Him, we have to crucify our sinful nature daily and live from His life within us. We have to realize that we can't live life in our own strength - we must submit to Him.

A portion from Jesus' prayer in John 17. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

Jesus' last request before He went to Calvary was that we would be with Him where He is. He wanted us to see His glory. He wanted us to grow into unity under His lordship.

For those of us who believe, we know that this has only happened because of God's work in our lives. We know we cannot save ourselves in our own power. We know that our challenge is to accept what Jesus did for us and to live that reality as it is.

As Paul said, "We have been saved by grace through faith, not through works, so that no one may boast."

Hallelujah.