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See Entire Series And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly {places} in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph 2:1-7) Continuing where we left off last time, we see in Ephesians 2 that our deliverance into a new life, lived on a new and higher plain of existence, has only to do with our origin and never our condition or sustained good behavior. Just as God has ordained it in the natural creation, where we derive our life defines what we are. As we look out on this forsaken world, and all the fruits of man and the evil one's cursed defiance of God, we acknowledge that we too are born into and of this world; that we walked only according to its course as sons of disobedience; and that we served the prince of the power of the air that breathes rebellion and bitterness into every creature entering Adam's darkened domain. Although we like to think that we can attain the tree of life, and restore the garden to its former glory and blessing, the plain and simple reality is that we cannot. Humanism and every vile and empty sort of religious or self-ordained enlightenment and improvement is a lie and a lifeless promise. History testifies to this beyond dispute for all those who are willing to accept the truth. As verses 1-7 acknowledge, and as we see in the book of Genesis, we are dead and detached; cut off from the very life and presence of the Creator who placed us in the garden to begin with. Only His "great love with which He loved us" and the "surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" can restore that which was lost, and mend the eternal breach between us and He who formed us for His pleasure and glory. The ultimate hope and good news of the gospel after the fall of man can only ever be - "But God..." And never - "But I..." Apart from Him we can do nothing. Oh I know we have heard this before, but do we live like we truly believe it? Do we run to Him and reach for Him with every breath in us, fully aware that failing this will result in our ruin and resorting back to what we naturally are? Oh how I wish this modern church would remember this; oh that we would cease living the apocalyptic lie that there is still some innate, underlying, unclaimed good in man; something of which compels God to take notice. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, {it is} the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called "Uncircumcision" by the so-called "Circumcision," {which is} performed in the flesh by human hands--{remember} that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Eph 2:8-13) His grace indeed, my brethren, and His workmanship - but has the truth of this penetrated His people quite yet? Does it inspire us to live before Him with such utter dependency and longing, knowing that His grace is the vital cord binding us to Him through His Beloved Son? Recall how Paul, in the first chapter, could never seem to praise the glory of His grace enough - how he seemed to be seeing and tasting something profoundly wondrous by way of revelation that we too must taste and see. I must admit that I had a completely horrendous day yesterday, causing me to be so very ashamed to be called His own; and to live before Him. I truly and genuinely wanted to die right then and there, for I had misrepresented He in whom I live and move and supposedly have my being. Apparently not. That is not what I want to be. That is sincerely not what I want to represent in this dark world. "O wretched man that I am" and "I am undone" as Paul and Isaiah confessed! And oh what iniquity broods in this wicked heart of mine, waiting only to surface and reveal me for what I am. Indeed, we may be going along quite happily and confidently, thinking we are moving deeper in Him, that He is in fact being formed in us and is having His way in us. Yet how foolish we are to think such things, for God beholds our ruinous heart, and what moves on the surface - our works in other words - means nothing to Him. We are what we are, and if we are to be anything other, then it can only be in Him. I thank God immensely for His limitless patience and mercy; that His grace is deeper and truer than my falseness can ever be. Let again our boast be in His grace, and not in our works. Our hope is not in ourselves, our improvement or our potential at all, but our hope is in a new life fostered by His grace alone, and rendered real before the world in the Lamb of God. Yes fellow saints, we have - by His great love whereby He lavished His grace upon us - been brought near in Christ Jesus our Lord; yet His grace is new every morning and with every moment, for we are not like Him as we hope to be; and yearn to be, in all holiness and grace and truth. We have so much to learn and so much to be in this new life that He has given us; and His grace - poured out of the depth of His vast heart, and rendered in His Son - is vital and precious. It represents the sum of our hope, and the practical outpouring of His love made real and reachable to us. For He Himself is our peace, who made both {groups into} one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, {which is} the Law of commandments {contained} in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, {thus} establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner {stone,} in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit. (Eph 2:14-22) Here we see not only what we are but also what we shall be - the very dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Here we also see that no longer will signposts and tablets of stone help us, for they have been usurped once and for all by He who has become the destination and fulfillment. He has become peace for us with the Holy and Immutable Father of All Life. Yes, in spite of all that we are we have found peace with Him, and access to Him, and life in Him - no longer estranged and empty, no longer strangers and aliens from the household of God, no longer outside of the promises made to Abraham and fulfilled in the Israel of God (the true Israel in other words). Yet it is rather easy to feel at times that we are innately unworthy to be reconciled to Him; that indeed our sin, when openly manifested before us as it often is, renders us disqualified and still-born. Believe me I know my friends what this is like. So easy it is to give up on ourselves and to think that He too has given up on us. At such times it is important to remember that His grace was never lavished on us, or even promised to us on the basis of anything we did or continued to do. Indeed, it is when we feel the least worthy and the most despicable that His grace is even nearer than we think. Praise our Lord! For when we are most repulsive, He remains eternally beautiful; and there will come a day my friends, when we will stand before our Father wholly claimed and reconciled, pure from the surface to the core of what we are. And it will have been His grace that got us there; as it indeed preserves us now. Oh the depth and wonder of it all dear ones - oh if we could only truly see what we have received; and give Him all the glory that is rightfully His. Father, please help us, by your Beloved Son, Amen.
Please pray for us here at Living-Walk, that we would watch and see the Master at work, and understand what He would have us be and do. Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus, Wayne |
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