February 17, 2008 Sermon Notes

Pastor Marty Grubbs –- February 17, 2008
“ALIVE”
Six Words for a New Life series, part two
Ephesians 2

We have a problem ... we are:

1.  Dead
     “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins ...” -Ephesians 2.1

2.  Disobedient
“... in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.” -Ephesians 2.2

3.  Doomed
“All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.” -Ephesians 2.3

God provided a solution:

Why?

1.  He loves us.
     “But because of His great love for us ...” -Ephesians 2:4

2.  He is rich in mercy.
     “... God, who is rich in mercy ...” -Ephesians 2:4

What?

1.  He made us alive.
“... made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.” -Ephesians 2:5

2.  He raised us up.
“And God raised us up with Christ ...” -Ephesians 2:6

3.  He seated us with Christ.
“... and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus ...” -Ephesians 2:6

How?

     Grace

“... 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, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.” -Ephesians 2:7-9

 

 

 

 

 

 

“‘The world can do almost anything as well as or better than the church,’ says Gordon MacDonald. ‘You need not be a Christian to build houses, feed the hungry, or heal the sick. There is only one thing the world cannot do. It cannot offer grace.’ MacDonald has put his finger on the church’s most important contribution. Where else can the world go to find grace?” -What’s so Amazing About Grace by Philip Yancey

 

 

A morning thought...

If the central saving act of Christian faith is relegated to the future, with the fervent hope that Christ’s resurrection is the pledge of our own, and that one day we shall reign with Him in glory, then the risen one is pushed safely out of the present. Limiting the resurrection either to the past or to the future makes the present risenness of Jesus largely irrelevant, safeguards us from interference with the ordinary rounds and daily routine of our lives, and preempts communion now with Jesus as a living person.

In other words, the resurrection needs to be experienced as present risenness. If we take seriously the word of the risen Christ, "Know that I am with you always; yes, to the end of time," we should expect that He will be actively present in our lives. If our faith is alive and luminous, we will be alert to moments, events, and occasions when the power of resurrection is brought to bear on our lives. Self-absorbed and inattentive, we fail to notice the subtle ways in which Jesus is snagging our attention.

—Brennan Manning, Reflections for Ragamuffins