ASHBURNHAM SESSION 3a - PHILIP MOUNSTEPHEN
Ashburnham Session 3a : Salvation & Unity
Ephesians 2: 1-10
When was the last time you had to write a CV, a curriculum vitae? Some of you I guess may never have written one. If you’re like me, you’ll have one filed away somewhere on your computer. Mine has quite a long history, and maybe says more about my past than the present. It says for instance that I enjoy badminton. I came in for quite a lot of stick from Ruth and Kitty when they realised it said that. But I stick by it. I do like badminton. The fact I’ve only played it twice in the last eighteen years is neither here nor there.
If you’re like me, then you’ll not find the business of writing a CV that easy. You can feel torn between the need to sell yourself – because it’s a competitive market out there – and the need to be humble – because that’s what as Christians we should be. But there’s a more fundamental unease than that. There’s a fundamental issue about how we see ourselves? About what it is that defines us. Ask both Marx and out and out capitalists, and they’ll tell us that we’re primarily economic beings. Others will tell us that who we are is defined by our genetic predisposition. Some psychologists will tell us that ultimately we are sexual beings. Now of course there can be valuable insights into the reality of the human condition from all kinds of quarters, but we need to exercise discernment as well. Such viewpoints may tell us things about ourselves, but by themselves, if they are mirrors, then at best they are distorting mirrors, like you get at a fair. They don’t give us a true picture of ourselves.
And of course it’s not just a question of how others see us. Much more important in many ways is how we see ourselves. What do we really think matters about ourselves. Is it the shape of our bodies? Is it the power we exercise? Is it the size of our bank balance? Again, these can be seriously distorting mirrors. One of my observations from my years of pastoral ministry is that half the people one meets seem to suffer from a terribly exaggerated sense of their own importance, and the other half suffer from cripplingly low self esteem. Both are tragic. Both stop us from being the people we should be. Both stop us from being the people God wants us to be.
By contrast Ephesians 2: 1-10 tells us like it is. It’s a true mirror that helps us to see ourselves as we really are. It’s our real CV. Paul finishes chapter 1 with this glorious vision of Christ in glory reigning over everything for his church. But now he’s as it were wound the tape back. And he wants to tell this Church – and us – how they got into the story in the first place. So in this passage he goes back to the beginning and tells us the story that is the story of every Christian – and is indeed the story of the church, our corporate story. The story we looked at in Ch 1 is the story from God's perspective. But this story here in Ch 2 examines things from our standpoint. And it’s a story which tells us who we really are. So let’s use this passage to answer the question, ‘Who are we?’ We’re going to look at the passage in two halves. Vv 1-3 tells us who we are by nature. And vv 4-10 tell us who we are by the grace of God. Let’s be logical and take the first half first.
And of course it makes grim reading doesn’t it. We’d rather skip it and get on to part two, because it tells us rather embarrassing things about ourselves. But we need to remember that there’s no good news without the bad news first.
There are, according to Paul, three aspects to this bad news about us. First, to put it bluntly, we ‘were dead in our transgressions and sins’ v. 1.Transgressions and sins are interesting words, with subtly different shades of meaning. The idea behind ‘transgression’ is of crossing a boundary. ‘Sin’ on the other hand is about falling short of a requires standard. The first is about rebellion. The second is about failure. And that’s the truth of the matter. We are both rebels and failures. We have overstepped the boundary. We have fallen short of the mark. And the result of this rebellion and failure is quite clear. Death. The penalty for rebellion and failure is death: spiritual, moral and eternal. Let’s be clear about this. To be trapped in sin is not just a question of not being able to live life to the full. It’s not just a question of failing to realise our full potential. It’s is about being dead, spiritually, morally and eternally. It’s a stark as that. And we have to look in the mirror and face up to it. Because there is no good news without the bad news first.
By nature we are dead. And secondly by nature we are up against three old foes in V. 2 & 3a. Three old foes in the shape of the world, the flesh and the devil – or rather, in the order we find them here, the world, the devil and the flesh. All three are deadly enemies..
Enemy one is the world. When Paul talks about the world, he doesn’t mean the world as God created it., which although fallen, has much in it for us to enjoy, treasure and preserve. He means instead the whole structure and value system of human society which is organised without any reference to God. Wherever people are dehumanised, made less than they should be, there we see the power of the world at work. It happens in all kinds of ways: through political oppression, through poverty, through pornography, through materialism, through racism, through an obsession with celebrity. All of these influences are examples of the world at work, demeaning human beings and making them so much less that God would have them be.
And enemy number two is the devil. Paul talks in v. 2 about ‘the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.’. We've come across the ‘at work’ word before – though it’s a bit hidden in English. It’s the same word used to describe the power of God which was at work when Jesus was raised from the dead, and which is now at work in us. The point is of course that you’re going to have one power or other at work in you. Either the power of Satan, or the power of God. There’s no middle ground. And remember, that by nature, without Christ we are those – however nice we may be – in whom the devil is at work.
And our third enemy is the flesh. In v. 3 Paul talks about ‘gratifying….[ ]’ Sinful nature is what used to be translated ‘flesh’. And I think it’s helpful we’ve got away from that translation. When Paul uses the Greek word ‘sarx’ (which does literally mean flesh), he’s not saying the body is evil. Nor is he saying the there’s nothing wrong with our minds. He’s saying that just as human society without God goes tragically wrong, so human beings without God go tragically wrong too. We become trapped inside ourselves, cut off from one another and from God, by the selfish desires and passions which control us. They seem to offer so much, but actually offer us nothing at all.
Let’s recap. Here’s the bad news. By nature we are dead, by nature we are enslaved by our three enemies: the world, the devil and the flesh. And thirdly, by nature we are condemned: v.3b [ ]. Here’s another uncomfortable fact we have to face. God cares about sin. It angers him, it infuriates him. He is angry with those who sin. Many find that untenable. We live in a supposedly spiritual age. But go to the mind body and spirit section of your local bookshop where all the new age self help stuff lurks and you’ll not find much there about the wrath of God. But go to your local Christian bookshop, and you’ll not find much about it there either. But we can’t ignore it. We have to face it. And it is strangely comforting. The fact that God is angry reminds us that we isn’t indifferent. He isn’t neutral We live in a moral universe. Right and wrong matter. We have a God who cares. He’s angry for exactly the same reason that he’s merciful – and that’s because he cares.
So that’s the bad news. By nature we are dead, enslaved and condemned. Doesn’t look good does it?. Doesn’t look good on your CV. Doesn’t look a pretty sight in the mirror. But that’s the truth of it. And there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t educate or self-help our way out of it. Chicken soup for the soul won’t help. This is a deep problem requiring a deep solution. And we are out of our depth. As Elvis used to sing: ‘we’re caught in a trap, there’s no way out.’ Except of course that there is.
In Greek, vv. 4-10 start with the awesome words, ‘but God.’ And that makes all the difference. By nature we are dead, enslaved and condemned – but God. Suddenly the clouds lift, the tables turn, bad news turns into good – because God has stepped on to the scene. Our CV changes character completely, our mirror image is transformed.
What difference does God make? Twice he tells us: we have been saved – v. 4 & v. 8 - in other words we have been rescued, from death, from slavery, from condemnation. That’s who we are, not by nature this time, but by grace: we are those who have been saved.
How has this happened? We need to understand that this passage is simply a continuation of Paul’s prayer back at the end of Ch. 1. There he was talking about Jesus being dead but raised. Now here, he’s talking about the same thing. He’s talking about us being dead but raised. And the point is, of course that the two are connected - all this has happened to us because of Jesus.
We can sometimes think that there are basically two stories in the NT – the story of Jesus and the story of the Church. Actually there’s only one. There’s only the story of Jesus. But the wonder of the good news is that by grace his story becomes our story. What’s true of him, becomes true of us. And that’s really clearly spelt out here. V. 4a, 5 [ ]. V. 6 [ ]. Jesus has been brought back to life – and so have we, in him. Jesus has been raised up to heaven – and so have we, in him. Jesus has been seated at the right hand of God – and so have we, in him. What’s true of him, becomes true of us. Just let that sink in. It’s breathtaking. What’s true of the Son of God becomes true even of us – even to the extent that we are enthroned with him in heaven. He doesn’t treat us we deserve. He doesn’t even give us a good seat in the stalls. He seats us with him in the heavenly realms. Amazing.
And why does he do this? Look at the language Paul uses. God is rich in mercy – v. 4, it is by grace vv. 5, 7 & 8, it’s because of his kindness v. 7. This is the language of love – and in case we didn’t spot it, that’s exactly what Paul says in v. 4. – ‘because of his great love for us’. Think for a moment of everything we saw in vv. 1-4: we were dead, rebels, failures, enslaved by the world, the devil and the flesh, condemned by the wrath of God. And yet he loves us. And yet he loves us. Isn’t that awesome? We were all that, and yet he loved us.
Let me ask you. Do you know that you are loved? Do you really know it? Have you ever know it? Have you maybe forgotten it? But you are. Deeply, unchangeably, unshakeably loved. And there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more. We can’t in fact be anymore loved by him, than he loves us now, because his love is total and eternal. There’s nothing we can add, nothing we can do, nothing we can bring. The Lord is all we need. His love is quite enough. That’s why Paul reminds us in v. 8 & 9 [ ]. We need to beware any thought that we had a part to play – that would make us feel good wouldn’t it? But it’s not about us. It’s about love.
Yes there’s things for us to do – v. 10 makes that clear. But we don’t get involved in these good works to make up for anything lacking in the love of God, we get involved in these good works in response to the love of God. We are God’s workmanship. Our good works follow.
In fact there’s an interesting phrase hidden in those last words of v. 10. Literally it reads [v. 10 – ‘which God prepared in advance for us to walk in.’ Why is that interesting? Go back to vv. 1 & 2 and again read it literally, and you get [v1 – in which you use to walk]. So our passage begins and ends with two ways of walking/. One the walk of death in sin and transgression, the other, the walk of life, as we do things God has planned for us. That’s the contrast. This passage describes. What we are by nature, and what we are by grace. And the great hinge on which the whole turns are those two simple words, ‘But God.’ He’s the one who makes the difference. Because he loves us. To be the people of God is to be people who are – quite simply - loved.
So what does this mean for us? What do we need to do? Simply this. We need to learn to see ourselves aright. Individually and as churches we need to have a right sense of self-esteem. We need to know how we really look in the mirror. We need to know what our CV really says. I said earlier half the people one meets suffer from a terribly exaggerated sense of their own importance, and the other half suffer from cripplingly low self esteem. Well if you are a little too much in love with yourself. Remember what you are by nature – and learn to love instead the one who in spite of all that loves you far more than you love yourself. And if you do find it hard to love yourself, then remember what you are by grace., learn that you are loved, and loveable, and cannot be loved more than you are already. In C. S .Lewis second Narnia book, Prince Caspian, Caspian tells Aslan that he wished he came from a better family, and Aslan says, ‘You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve, and that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.’
So let’s remember what we truly are, individually and together – by nature and by grace. But let’s remember too that to be a Christian is to have left the first behind. We have been set free. By God’s grace we can leave the past behind. We have been liberated by grace. We are loved unconditionally, we cannot be unloved, and we cannot be loved more. We have been set free to be ourselves. Set free to be the people God always designed us to be. Set free to be the Church God always designed you to be. Let’s pray.
Quiet: meditate on passage – re-read inserting name? Sing 'Only by grace' Leg stretch
Ephesians 2: 1-10
When was the last time you had to write a CV, a curriculum vitae? Some of you I guess may never have written one. If you’re like me, you’ll have one filed away somewhere on your computer. Mine has quite a long history, and maybe says more about my past than the present. It says for instance that I enjoy badminton. I came in for quite a lot of stick from Ruth and Kitty when they realised it said that. But I stick by it. I do like badminton. The fact I’ve only played it twice in the last eighteen years is neither here nor there.
If you’re like me, then you’ll not find the business of writing a CV that easy. You can feel torn between the need to sell yourself – because it’s a competitive market out there – and the need to be humble – because that’s what as Christians we should be. But there’s a more fundamental unease than that. There’s a fundamental issue about how we see ourselves? About what it is that defines us. Ask both Marx and out and out capitalists, and they’ll tell us that we’re primarily economic beings. Others will tell us that who we are is defined by our genetic predisposition. Some psychologists will tell us that ultimately we are sexual beings. Now of course there can be valuable insights into the reality of the human condition from all kinds of quarters, but we need to exercise discernment as well. Such viewpoints may tell us things about ourselves, but by themselves, if they are mirrors, then at best they are distorting mirrors, like you get at a fair. They don’t give us a true picture of ourselves.
And of course it’s not just a question of how others see us. Much more important in many ways is how we see ourselves. What do we really think matters about ourselves. Is it the shape of our bodies? Is it the power we exercise? Is it the size of our bank balance? Again, these can be seriously distorting mirrors. One of my observations from my years of pastoral ministry is that half the people one meets seem to suffer from a terribly exaggerated sense of their own importance, and the other half suffer from cripplingly low self esteem. Both are tragic. Both stop us from being the people we should be. Both stop us from being the people God wants us to be.
By contrast Ephesians 2: 1-10 tells us like it is. It’s a true mirror that helps us to see ourselves as we really are. It’s our real CV. Paul finishes chapter 1 with this glorious vision of Christ in glory reigning over everything for his church. But now he’s as it were wound the tape back. And he wants to tell this Church – and us – how they got into the story in the first place. So in this passage he goes back to the beginning and tells us the story that is the story of every Christian – and is indeed the story of the church, our corporate story. The story we looked at in Ch 1 is the story from God's perspective. But this story here in Ch 2 examines things from our standpoint. And it’s a story which tells us who we really are. So let’s use this passage to answer the question, ‘Who are we?’ We’re going to look at the passage in two halves. Vv 1-3 tells us who we are by nature. And vv 4-10 tell us who we are by the grace of God. Let’s be logical and take the first half first.
And of course it makes grim reading doesn’t it. We’d rather skip it and get on to part two, because it tells us rather embarrassing things about ourselves. But we need to remember that there’s no good news without the bad news first.
There are, according to Paul, three aspects to this bad news about us. First, to put it bluntly, we ‘were dead in our transgressions and sins’ v. 1.Transgressions and sins are interesting words, with subtly different shades of meaning. The idea behind ‘transgression’ is of crossing a boundary. ‘Sin’ on the other hand is about falling short of a requires standard. The first is about rebellion. The second is about failure. And that’s the truth of the matter. We are both rebels and failures. We have overstepped the boundary. We have fallen short of the mark. And the result of this rebellion and failure is quite clear. Death. The penalty for rebellion and failure is death: spiritual, moral and eternal. Let’s be clear about this. To be trapped in sin is not just a question of not being able to live life to the full. It’s not just a question of failing to realise our full potential. It’s is about being dead, spiritually, morally and eternally. It’s a stark as that. And we have to look in the mirror and face up to it. Because there is no good news without the bad news first.
By nature we are dead. And secondly by nature we are up against three old foes in V. 2 & 3a. Three old foes in the shape of the world, the flesh and the devil – or rather, in the order we find them here, the world, the devil and the flesh. All three are deadly enemies..
Enemy one is the world. When Paul talks about the world, he doesn’t mean the world as God created it., which although fallen, has much in it for us to enjoy, treasure and preserve. He means instead the whole structure and value system of human society which is organised without any reference to God. Wherever people are dehumanised, made less than they should be, there we see the power of the world at work. It happens in all kinds of ways: through political oppression, through poverty, through pornography, through materialism, through racism, through an obsession with celebrity. All of these influences are examples of the world at work, demeaning human beings and making them so much less that God would have them be.
And enemy number two is the devil. Paul talks in v. 2 about ‘the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.’. We've come across the ‘at work’ word before – though it’s a bit hidden in English. It’s the same word used to describe the power of God which was at work when Jesus was raised from the dead, and which is now at work in us. The point is of course that you’re going to have one power or other at work in you. Either the power of Satan, or the power of God. There’s no middle ground. And remember, that by nature, without Christ we are those – however nice we may be – in whom the devil is at work.
And our third enemy is the flesh. In v. 3 Paul talks about ‘gratifying….[ ]’ Sinful nature is what used to be translated ‘flesh’. And I think it’s helpful we’ve got away from that translation. When Paul uses the Greek word ‘sarx’ (which does literally mean flesh), he’s not saying the body is evil. Nor is he saying the there’s nothing wrong with our minds. He’s saying that just as human society without God goes tragically wrong, so human beings without God go tragically wrong too. We become trapped inside ourselves, cut off from one another and from God, by the selfish desires and passions which control us. They seem to offer so much, but actually offer us nothing at all.
Let’s recap. Here’s the bad news. By nature we are dead, by nature we are enslaved by our three enemies: the world, the devil and the flesh. And thirdly, by nature we are condemned: v.3b [ ]. Here’s another uncomfortable fact we have to face. God cares about sin. It angers him, it infuriates him. He is angry with those who sin. Many find that untenable. We live in a supposedly spiritual age. But go to the mind body and spirit section of your local bookshop where all the new age self help stuff lurks and you’ll not find much there about the wrath of God. But go to your local Christian bookshop, and you’ll not find much about it there either. But we can’t ignore it. We have to face it. And it is strangely comforting. The fact that God is angry reminds us that we isn’t indifferent. He isn’t neutral We live in a moral universe. Right and wrong matter. We have a God who cares. He’s angry for exactly the same reason that he’s merciful – and that’s because he cares.
So that’s the bad news. By nature we are dead, enslaved and condemned. Doesn’t look good does it?. Doesn’t look good on your CV. Doesn’t look a pretty sight in the mirror. But that’s the truth of it. And there’s nothing we can do about it. We can’t educate or self-help our way out of it. Chicken soup for the soul won’t help. This is a deep problem requiring a deep solution. And we are out of our depth. As Elvis used to sing: ‘we’re caught in a trap, there’s no way out.’ Except of course that there is.
In Greek, vv. 4-10 start with the awesome words, ‘but God.’ And that makes all the difference. By nature we are dead, enslaved and condemned – but God. Suddenly the clouds lift, the tables turn, bad news turns into good – because God has stepped on to the scene. Our CV changes character completely, our mirror image is transformed.
What difference does God make? Twice he tells us: we have been saved – v. 4 & v. 8 - in other words we have been rescued, from death, from slavery, from condemnation. That’s who we are, not by nature this time, but by grace: we are those who have been saved.
How has this happened? We need to understand that this passage is simply a continuation of Paul’s prayer back at the end of Ch. 1. There he was talking about Jesus being dead but raised. Now here, he’s talking about the same thing. He’s talking about us being dead but raised. And the point is, of course that the two are connected - all this has happened to us because of Jesus.
We can sometimes think that there are basically two stories in the NT – the story of Jesus and the story of the Church. Actually there’s only one. There’s only the story of Jesus. But the wonder of the good news is that by grace his story becomes our story. What’s true of him, becomes true of us. And that’s really clearly spelt out here. V. 4a, 5 [ ]. V. 6 [ ]. Jesus has been brought back to life – and so have we, in him. Jesus has been raised up to heaven – and so have we, in him. Jesus has been seated at the right hand of God – and so have we, in him. What’s true of him, becomes true of us. Just let that sink in. It’s breathtaking. What’s true of the Son of God becomes true even of us – even to the extent that we are enthroned with him in heaven. He doesn’t treat us we deserve. He doesn’t even give us a good seat in the stalls. He seats us with him in the heavenly realms. Amazing.
And why does he do this? Look at the language Paul uses. God is rich in mercy – v. 4, it is by grace vv. 5, 7 & 8, it’s because of his kindness v. 7. This is the language of love – and in case we didn’t spot it, that’s exactly what Paul says in v. 4. – ‘because of his great love for us’. Think for a moment of everything we saw in vv. 1-4: we were dead, rebels, failures, enslaved by the world, the devil and the flesh, condemned by the wrath of God. And yet he loves us. And yet he loves us. Isn’t that awesome? We were all that, and yet he loved us.
Let me ask you. Do you know that you are loved? Do you really know it? Have you ever know it? Have you maybe forgotten it? But you are. Deeply, unchangeably, unshakeably loved. And there’s nothing we can do to make God love us more. We can’t in fact be anymore loved by him, than he loves us now, because his love is total and eternal. There’s nothing we can add, nothing we can do, nothing we can bring. The Lord is all we need. His love is quite enough. That’s why Paul reminds us in v. 8 & 9 [ ]. We need to beware any thought that we had a part to play – that would make us feel good wouldn’t it? But it’s not about us. It’s about love.
Yes there’s things for us to do – v. 10 makes that clear. But we don’t get involved in these good works to make up for anything lacking in the love of God, we get involved in these good works in response to the love of God. We are God’s workmanship. Our good works follow.
In fact there’s an interesting phrase hidden in those last words of v. 10. Literally it reads [v. 10 – ‘which God prepared in advance for us to walk in.’ Why is that interesting? Go back to vv. 1 & 2 and again read it literally, and you get [v1 – in which you use to walk]. So our passage begins and ends with two ways of walking/. One the walk of death in sin and transgression, the other, the walk of life, as we do things God has planned for us. That’s the contrast. This passage describes. What we are by nature, and what we are by grace. And the great hinge on which the whole turns are those two simple words, ‘But God.’ He’s the one who makes the difference. Because he loves us. To be the people of God is to be people who are – quite simply - loved.
So what does this mean for us? What do we need to do? Simply this. We need to learn to see ourselves aright. Individually and as churches we need to have a right sense of self-esteem. We need to know how we really look in the mirror. We need to know what our CV really says. I said earlier half the people one meets suffer from a terribly exaggerated sense of their own importance, and the other half suffer from cripplingly low self esteem. Well if you are a little too much in love with yourself. Remember what you are by nature – and learn to love instead the one who in spite of all that loves you far more than you love yourself. And if you do find it hard to love yourself, then remember what you are by grace., learn that you are loved, and loveable, and cannot be loved more than you are already. In C. S .Lewis second Narnia book, Prince Caspian, Caspian tells Aslan that he wished he came from a better family, and Aslan says, ‘You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve, and that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.’
So let’s remember what we truly are, individually and together – by nature and by grace. But let’s remember too that to be a Christian is to have left the first behind. We have been set free. By God’s grace we can leave the past behind. We have been liberated by grace. We are loved unconditionally, we cannot be unloved, and we cannot be loved more. We have been set free to be ourselves. Set free to be the people God always designed us to be. Set free to be the Church God always designed you to be. Let’s pray.
Quiet: meditate on passage – re-read inserting name? Sing 'Only by grace' Leg stretch
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