What Are We (Jake Enns)

For a sermon this morning, you want to continue in our sermon

series out of Paul's letter to the church, to the Ephesians.

We've been looking at how Paul expresses himself, thanking God

and making reference to what God has done.

And our title this morning is Remember what we are.

When sports players go on to the field, they wear the uniform of

the team they represent. They identify as the players of

the team they play for. The same holds true for God's

people. God's people identify with

Christ. They live their lives in honor

and worship of Christ. Paul has been reminding the

Ephesian Christians of what God has done for us.

God has saved us, He's blessed us, and He's predestined us for

adoption as sons. Last Sunday in Ephesians chapter

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

2, verse one to three, we saw how Paul paused a little bit in

his writing and took time to remind us of what we are without

Christ. So last Sunday we reminded

ourselves to remember what we were.

And it's helpful to do that from time to time to remember what we

were, where we've come from, and that we're not anymore where we

were. But then just as quickly, Paul

again moves on from verse 3. And today we want to look at how

Paul points out as to points us to US, points us what we are in

Christ now, what we are now, what we are in Christ.

And because of what God has done for us, we are saved.

He made us alive and now we're called to good works.

I want us to read Ephesians chapter 2 beginning verse 4

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

through chapter 10. Ephesians chapter 2 beginning

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

verse 4. But God, who is rich in mercy

because of his great love with which he loved us even when we

were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you've been saved and raised us up together, and made

us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in

the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his

grace and in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of

yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of

works, lest anyone should boast for Weir's workmanship created

in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand,

that we should walk in them. Last Sunday I put a picture on

the PowerPoint slide of a mountain, of a mountaintop and

looking down into the valley below the trail or the the

pathway or the road where the person that traveled.

I use it as an illustration to look back where we've been to

take have a perspective. But what about a picture that

illustrates what we are in Christ?

There are numerous word pictures the Bible uses to describe what

we are in Christ. There's no picture that I can

imagine that would do justice to describing what we are in

Christ. I can't think of one.

But there are Bible stories that use word pictures to illustrate

what we what we do in Christ. And so I want to use one that's

the picture of a Grapevine, and I think it looks all right.

Do you see the vine and you see the branch?

Then you see the grape cluster. Jesus teaches us in John chapter

John 15 · chapter mention

15 that he is the vine and we are the branches.

He says that every branch in him that bears fruit will be pruned

so that it will bear more fruit. In every branch that does not

bear fruit will be cut off and be thrown into the fire.

So Jesus is the vine. We as God's people are branches

that are attached to the vine. And if we're good branches allow

ourselves to be pruned to become productive, we will bear fruit.

The Bible teaches that. So in today's passage in

Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 to 10, we want to look at our

Ephesians 2:4–10

position in Christ and what that means, what that entails for us.

And after having described our state of existence without God,

Paul now moves on in Ephesians chapter 2 four to 10, what we

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

are in Christ. So we are alive in Christ.

We're saved by grace through faith.

And lastly, were his workmanship.

So first of all, we are alive. Paul begins with God and

explains what we are in Christ. God is the reference point from

which Paul paints this picture, or our current existence.

Us being alive is directly connected to God, and without

God there simply is no life. Let's go through these verses

one at a time, he says. But God, who is rich in mercy,

because of his great love with which he loved us even when we

were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you've been saved. See, God made us alive.

We're alive. Remember last Sunday we were

dead in sin. That's what we read.

The message Paul is giving here in so many words is God made us

alive. That's the key phrase in these

two verses, explaining what happened.

It's an act of God. But what Paul does and telling

us that God made us alive is that he goes into quite a bit of

detail about God himself. He describes God and gives us a

description of what God is. He uses very vivid language to

explain God, his attributes, his character, and his love.

He says God, who is rich in mercy.

You catch that rich and mercy. He's rich in everything, but

he's rich in mercy and he shows us his love.

Can you imagine God running out of mercy?

He is limitless supply of anything he needs or wants.

He doesn't have to order another shipment.

Oh sorry, we're all on mercy now.

We'll have to wait. Because of who He is, He has

this. He has mercy on people because

of who He is, not because of who people are.

It is true that we can cut ourselves off from we can walk

away from him, but it's not because God has nothing or God

is impoverished. God is always rich in mercy,

seeking to save those who are lost.

Maybe someone at this point might ask, well, what is mercy?

If God's rich in mercy, what's mercy?

Mercy is one of those things it's a bit hard to describe

because you can't really fully envision it or you can't get to

the depths of it. It's it's so grand and it's so

big. Mercy from God is what God does

to people. Mercy from God is a response God

gives to people's request or to people's need.

Mercy essentially, in this passage is withholding judgment

from the person who deserves to be judged.

You see that mercy is never deserved.

Mercy cannot be deserved. It cannot be even demanded to

say someone, someone might have broken the law and gotten

arrested off to court and stands before the judge who's about to

pass sentence. Please have mercy on me.

That's a valid statement, a valid request, But you can't

say, well, you got to have mercy on me.

Well, I've I've deserved mercy. That's a contradiction.

If mercy was deserved, it would be a reward.

That's not how mercy works. To be given mercy is when a

person breaks the law and instead of having to pay, the

judge let's the person go free and does not have to pay.

That's when a person has been given mercy.

You owe a lot. You can't pay.

Have mercy in the person says, OK, I'll let you go.

The debt is canceled. I'll bear the burden.

You do not have to pay. That's mercy.

OK, let's extend this a little bit now.

So what then is grace? If mercy is not having to pay,

what is grace? Let me put it this way.

In a case of a person being guilty of having broken the law,

when there's grace, there's grace in that case first there,

because first there was mercy. In a legal case, mercy is when a

person is guilty and is let off the hook.

He's let go free. He doesn't have to pay.

Mercy then goes beyond that. I mean, grace goes beyond that.

Grace is when not only do I not have to pay the debt now,

instead of not having to pay that, I get treated as if I did

something good when it did nothing.

And that's a totally different story.

I get treated as if I had actually done what was required

of me. I get treated as if I earned a

reward. That's grace.

And this is powerful. This is so huge.

This is so big. As I was going through this last

week, I thought you can't really wrap your brains around this,

folks. And the story that came to my

mind is in the Bible. It's Luke chapter 15.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

It's the story of the prodigal son.

You can read the story in Luke chapter 15, not the first part.

Luke 15 · chapter mention

There's a story of the woman shepherd lost some sheep, finds

the lost 1 sheep, leaves the 99 goes and finds the lost one

woman lost the coin lights the lamp, sweeps the house and finds

the lost coin. And then Jesus tells the grand

story of the of the prodigal son.

A farmer had two boys, he said, and the youngest of the two

said, Dad, give me my inheritance that's going to come

to me when you die. He wanted it now.

The father obliged, took, took the money, gave it to the son,

and the son headed off into a far country, wasted his money in

righteous living. When it was all gone, of course

he had problems. He hadn't thought of that.

He had serious needs. So he now in this far country,

he gets hungry, starts to starve, and he hires himself out

to get a job at a pig farmer. And something Jews would never

do. And Jesus told the story to the

Jewish audience, You wouldn't work for a pig farmer.

Pigs run clean and he works there.

It doesn't satisfy. They don't even give him to eat

what the pigs are eating. It doesn't work.

His problems get worse and his mind starts to wander.

One day thinks to himself, my goodness, what about Dad?

At home, his servants, they eat better than I do.

So one day he says, you know what?

I think I'm going to go back to my dad.

I'm going to tell him I'm sorry I sinned against heaven against

you and just just make me a hired servant.

He's not asking for grace, barely mercy.

Let me work for you. I'll just work for you if that's

OK. He's not planning to be

reinstated as a son or nothing. He just wants to live.

He wants to eat. He goes, he gets up, walks back

home, finally gets to his close to his place and before he even

gets to his father sees him coming from a long way off,

obviously the father's watch and comes, runs, meets him.

Son starts to confess. Daddy says I've sinned against

heaven against you. I'm not worthy to be called your

son. He's going to ask him now to be

made a servant. He's going to ask dad just to

let him work for him to earn enough to eat.

He doesn't even get that far. And the father calls a servant

interrupts him, calls a servant says, hey, go out and get, get a

robe for, for, for my son here. Get get some shoes for his feet

and and put a ring on his finger.

All these are indicators of acceptance of welcome.

And the ring is a sign of authority.

You see, he was hoping for mercy.

He got that. He got mercy and grace.

That's a powerful story. To be forgiven for what you do

wrong is mercy. To be restored to relationship,

That is grace. I love art and paintings and

stuff like that and books. There's a very well known

painting by a Dutch painter named Rembrandt.

He lived in the 1600s and is famous for his artwork.

He painted a picture of a story of the story of the prodigal

son. And it's apparently it's in, in

Russia and Saint Petersburg in a museum somewhere.

And it's that painting. I couldn't make it very large

because dude, the whole picture wouldn't go on there.

The story of the prodigal son. Now, of course, we don't know

exactly how it really looked, but I think it does a does a

good job. There's a Dutch priest by the

name of Henry Nolan in the 1980s and 1990s.

He went there and looked at that picture, sat there for some

hours just looking at the picture.

It affected him very deeply. He went and wrote an entire book

on that experience, just sitting there looking at the at the

painting. The book is called The Return of

the Prodigal. I've got the book.

It's a very deep and powerful and penetrating story, a message

of the nature of the love of God, of the Father, of his mercy

and grace. When Paul wrote his letter to

the Ephesians, he wanted to convey that truth about God, to

help his readers understand what it is that they've been given.

So Paul writes God who is rich in mercy while we were dead in

trespasses made us alive. The story of the prodigal son.

In chapter 15 of Luke, we read how the older brother didn't

like what the father showed mercy and grace to the younger

brother. But the father spoke the

following words. Let's read Luke chapter 15 verse

Luke 15:31–32

31 to 32. And he said to him, to the older

brother who wants none of this, he said, son, you're always with

me and all that I have is yours. It was right.

We should make merry and be glad for your brother was dead and is

alive again. He was lost and is found.

You catch that He's dead. He wasn't dead dead.

He was not a corpse, but he was dead to the family, dead in

relationship. These are some of the most

penetrating words of scripture. And you know something else?

When did this happen? God was at work before even we

knew of him or before we even were considering coming to him.

God knew her state of being God was what behind the scenes at

work already. You see, you and I, we're in the

heart of the Father before we even want mercy.

What the prodigal son wanted to come home to get was far less

than the Father had planned for him when he would come home.

The son only wanted to come home as a servant so he could eat.

The father was watching for his son to restore him.

The father just wanted him back as a son to restore him to

sonship. Do we see the difference?

Do we want from God what God wants for us, or we just want to

get by Spiritually dead people are dead toward God, but very

much alive in their sinful ways. They're very much physically

alive. And even though they're dead

toward God, that does not mean they have no awareness or no

knowledge. They know.

The prodigal knew, and most people know there's, I think,

very few people who would have no concept, no moral compass of

any right and wrong. You see, the prodigal was lost,

but he was aware. He knew right from wrong.

He knew his father, he knew he'd rebelled.

He knew he'd sinned. He was under no illusions as to

what he deserved. And his father wanted him back

not to carry a justice. His Father wanted him back so he

could show him mercy and grace. And when he did come back, the

Father gave him so much more true sonship.

Paul understood this principle. Paul was very much aware of his

own sinful past, where he'd been, what God had brought him

through, and so on. And this is something that's for

you and I this morning, today. Now just say this gently but

firmly. Never allow anyone to suggest to

you that Jesus might not have died for you, that he may not

love you, that maybe you're not one of his.

If he's if you're under the word of God, then you're called.

This gift of grace is free to anyone who comes to the Father,

to anyone. The illustration of the thief on

the cross, and I'm sometimes reminded of this thing that

happened there, this thief. There's two thieves, one on the

other side of Jesus as he was hanging on the cross, one on the

right, one on the left. And it says in the Gospel was

the one of them had a change of heart while he's hanging there

and his dying hours. He noticed Jesus and he knows

Jesus innocent and he's committed no crimes.

And as he's hanging on the cross, he sees Jesus and he's

convicted of what he did. Yeah, I get what I deserve.

I I committed a crime and going to die now, but Jesus was

innocent. He looks at Jesus and he says to

Jesus, Remember Me when you come into your Kingdom.

Obviously he believed in life after death.

He knew he was going to die. He knew Jesus was going to die.

But says, Jesus, when you come into your Kingdom, Remember Me.

Just want to be remembered. What's so striking is Jesus

turns to him and says, today you'll be with me in paradise.

He came the final moment. He received mercy and grace.

Paul writes the last part of verse 5 says by grace, you've

been saved. By grace, you've been saved.

Let's read verse 4 to 5 again. Then let's continue down through

verse 7. But God, who is rich in mercy,

because of his great love with which he loved us even when we

were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

By grace you've been saved and raised us up together and made

us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in

the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of his

grace and his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

This is so tightly packed and so dense, we just really can't seem

to get to the bottom of it or to the center.

God's purpose and giving us grace and mercy is so much

higher than just always save these people.

Saving us in itself is a great thing.

It's it's grand. It's already beyond what we can

comprehend. It's good, but then to save us

for a higher purpose. Yet saving us from judgment is

good, but for a higher purpose. He has so much more in mind for

us. He made us alive for more than

it's OK, I'll make sure they don't go to hell and that's it.

No, he has a purpose for us. He raised us up to sit together.

It says in the heavenly places with with Christ.

You know what this talks about community, fellowship,

relationship, position and standing in God's eyes.

We're part of his community. This year at LEMC, our theme for

the year's connections, and we see it so much as part of what's

happening here in Ephesians. God has connected with humanity.

We're connected with Jesus. We're supposed to connect with

one another. And as we go through the sermon

series, we'll see more of that. And all this in an eternal

setting here in Ephesians. All of this points to something

that is yet to come. Verse 7.

In the ages to come, He might show us the exceeding riches of

His grace and His kindness toward us in Jesus Christ.

In this life we may think we have an idea of what kindness

is, what love is, what grace is, what hope is, and so on, but we

really only have a very small grasp of it.

In the book of Hebrews, the writer to the Hebrews mentions

that what we have here in this life is merely shadows of the

things to come. Think about that for just a

moment. If everything we see and

experience in this earth is merely shadows compared to

what's coming, we have no idea yet what it's going to be when

it happens. Many years ago as a young man, I

had the privilege, privilege of teaching a teen class of

students, Sunday school students, teenage boys and

girls. And, and I remember Mustang cars

were the big thing, the Ford Mustang, that was the car to

have and everybody dreamed of owning one or driving one at

least. And so use it as an illustration

to explain that truth. And I said, what if the only way

you could explain the concept of a Ford Mustang is just what you

see in the shadow, its shape and form, and then you try to

describe its power or its beauty or its features just by shadows.

I said, how shallow is that? And I think it got through to

him a little bit. Shadows just don't do justice to

the real thing. That's a little bit what

happens. Well, that's very much what

happens in Scripture. The right of the Hebrews talks

about this in Hebrews chapter 8, verse 5, the the old past, what

Hebrews 8:5

we had, as great as that was and is, it's just shadows.

Here in the letter of Ephesians, we find the best is yet to come.

Not just a little better, not just a small improvement, a

little upgrade. No exceeding riches of his

grace, Paul writes. All of it happens in a setting

of grace. You see, everyone who's saved is

saved by grace. There's no one saved outside of

grace. All people are saved, are saved

through grace. Somebody had asked this well

known theologian, Dallas Willard one time, Will there be any

people in heaven who didn't know Jesus?

It's a hard question to answer because not everybody has the

same understanding and concept and grasp of Jesus.

For instance, all little babies go to heaven.

We believe that firmly and strongly.

Well, they don't know Jesus, but they're saved by grace.

I did say this and I may have repeated it somewhere in a

setting, and I know I've said it to many people.

I don't know if said it in a worship service, but Dallas

Woodard said this. He said if there's anybody in

heaven who hasn't heard of Jesus, he'll be only there

because of Jesus. It's all grace.

That's it. That's where why we have the

position we do. And why did God do all this?

He did it because of who He is, not who we are.

It works through faith. We're saved by grace through

faith. That's our second point.

We're saved by grace through faith.

Well, whose faith are we saved through His?

No, ours. It's God's grace that saves us

through faith. Whose faith?

The faith that we have in God. I know there are people who get

into arguments about this and well, then faith is a work.

Well, let's not go there. Let me just say this.

The Bible simply teaches that when we hear about Jesus and we

put our faith in Him, we receive salvation.

It's as simple as that. It's a faith decision.

It's a decision we make to put our trust in Him.

We can pray to God, asking Him, strengthen our faith, help us in

our faith. But the end of the day, I own

the faith. It's my faith through which God

extends grace to us. I believe God's word is clear

when He draws a person, when He calls a person, He convicts a

person. What however he does that,

that's the channel, that's the connection.

The faith is the connection through which this gift comes.

It's by God's grace and through our faith that salvation comes.

Again in verse 8. For by grace you've been saved

through faith and that not of yourselves.

It's the gift of God, not of works, as any man should boast.

You see here, it's a gift. Grace is a gift, not a payment,

not a reward. It's a gift.

There are many places in Scripture where we find that

Jesus tells people to have faith and when we do miracles, when he

would do miracles and he'll people would say your faith has

made you well. And Mark chapter 10, verse 52,

Mark 10:52

we read a man where Jesus talked to Jesus said go your way.

Your faith has made you well and immediately he received his

sight and followed Jesus on the road.

And I understand faith is a much broader concept.

Just saying have faith. I understand that.

And so I don't want to go too deep into this, but Jesus

addresses the people who he heals and who he talks to have

faith. Your faith is small or great is

your faith numerous times. And we depend on him to draw us

and to lead us, but the end of the day we must decide.

In Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 6, the writer says, But without

Hebrews 11:6

faith it's impossible to please God for he who comes to God must

believe that he is that he is a rewarder of those who diligently

seek him. It's a very powerful passage in

the book of Acts that illustrates this very clearly.

I won't read it this morning. Acts chapter 16 verse 31 and on

Acts 16:31

Paul and Silas are in are in jail for for preaching the

gospel, been arrested, beaten and putting the stalks in the

prison, the inner prison in fact, chained along with other

prisoners singing praises, worshipping God.

In the middle of the night there's an earthquake.

Prison is shaken, the fetters fall loose and the chains are

loose and the doors flew open. The jailer wakes up.

Go, what's going on? Draws a sword, wants to kill him

because he knows in the morning these prisoners are gone.

I'm dead, Paul yells. They don't kill yourself.

We're still all here. And he's never heard something

like that before. He calls for a light, runs to

the prison, falls trembling before them.

I'll read verse 2039. It's 29, it says.

Then he called for a light, ran and fell down trembling before

Silas. And he brought them out and

said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

He knew he was wrong, so they said, and believe on the Lord

Jesus Christ, and you'll be saved, you and your household.

That is how simple it is. It's hard, but it's simple.

It's not complicated. You see, to be made alive from a

state of being dead, that's mercy.

Becoming part of God's family is a gift of grace and it comes

through faith. Simply told, believe on the Lord

Jesus and salvation will follow. Faith is the connecting link

through which the grace of God comes to us.

Let's look again at Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8.

Ephesians 2:8

For by grace you've been saved through faith, not of

yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of

works, lest any man should boast.

It's a gift. At the end of the day.

It is about relationships, and this is mutual.

So let's recap here. Remain alive in Christ because

of God's great mercy and grace towards us, His riches.

He took the initiative, did everything possible.

He extends His grace to us, His mercy and grace to us.

It's for our benefit. It's a gift to us.

It's our responsibility to receive it, to accept it and

receive it. But this is not the finish line.

Let's read verse 10. For we are his workmanship,

created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared

beforehand, that we should walk in them.

There's something that follows. God has a purpose.

We're saved by grace through faith.

God extends mercy, saves us by grace through faith.

We're not trophies to put on a shelf.

We're actually coworkers with God #3 we are Christ's

workmanship created for good works.

We have a purpose beyond what we even know.

I'm reminded of the story of creation when God put Adam and

Eve in the Garden of Eden. God completed the project of

creation, but it was not finished, as if there was

nothing left to do. It was finished and complete.

God rested on the 7th day, but there was work to do for Adam.

God give Adam a job. As human beings, we need to

remind ourselves there's work for us in this world as image,

as God's image bearers, we have a role here as well.

God wants to live in US and through US, work in this world.

We do this by honor. We do.

We work for Him in honor of Him. We read of Paul in First

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 3 of the work that he has described for

himself. He says in First Corinthians

1 Corinthians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3, he's a God's fellow worker.

The idea of becoming a believer, but then not being a service for

God, that's a foreign idea to Scripture.

When Paul writes that we are created for good works, he's

talking about what we've been gifted for and called to do.

Again, verse 10, we are his workmanship created in Christ

Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we

should walk in them. The beautiful thing about all

this is that God already planned this beforehand.

We should walk in them. We should live in them.

By the way, guys, there's no unemployment in God's Kingdom.

There's no unemployment rate that doesn't exist.

Every one of us is called to full time representation of our

Lord Jesus Christ in Word and deed.

So we do well to consider this and ask what kind of believers

are we? What kind of works are we part

of? As a pastor of this church, I'm

so thankful and so grateful. As I look around throughout the

weeks when I work here in the office and see people coming and

going Sunday mornings and at all the many countless hours that

volunteers put in. Then I hear of stories House.

People in the community at this church are serving the

community. It excites my heart and is a

delight to hear when I hear somebody volunteering here and

somebody volunteering there and somebody doing this and somebody

doing that for the cause of the Kingdom.

That's a joy to see and a joy to hear.

And those volunteer hours are countless hours when we pray the

Lord's Prayer. Our Father in heaven, hallowed

be your name, your Kingdom come, that part, your Kingdom come as

part of it. Those are that's being engaged

in the works. I see, friends, that's what it's

about. God is bringing His Kingdom into

this world through you and me. How we live our lives and what a

blessing it is and what a privilege it is.

We're saved. God extends His mercy to us.

We're saved by grace through faith in God, and we engage in

the works He's prepared for us in advance.

There's no better package, no better deal, no better

opportunity. So let's remember and live out

what we are. We are alive in Christ.

We're saved by grace through faith, and we are His

workmanship, prepared for good works by God's design, for his

purpose. What's it worth to us today?

What value does it have? My encouragement for us today is

to look at what we are in Christ.

I want to direct our thoughts to Jesus, His death on the cross

for our sins, His resurrection from the dead, and his gift of

grace that he extends to us through faith.

Today He's with us through Spirit, guiding us, leading us

into works of service that gives us to do which we have the

privilege and honor of being part of.

So May God give us what we need to walk in his ways and serve

Him and doing the works of service He's created for us.

Let's pray. Lord God, thank you for your

word in which you show us how much you love us and what you

want for us and from us. Thank you for your great mercy

and thank you for your grace. Thank you for being with us.

I pray that we'd be open to the voice of your Spirit when you

call us to yourself. Lord may be obedient to you and

respond when you call. Help us to have faith in you and

receive your mercy and grace in our lives.

Thank you again Lord for this day and may we live out and

express our love to you by loving others with the love you

have for us. We thank in Jesus name, Amen.