Radiant Basics 2026 - Week 1 - Caleb Richardson

9. If you don't have a Bible, there should be

some on the back tables on each side. You're

welcome to take one of those home with you. Ephesians

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, starting in verse 1. And you were

dead in your trespasses and sins in which you

previously walked according to the ways of this

world, according to the ruler of the power of

the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.

We too all previously lived among them in our

fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations

of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature

children under wrath, as the others were also.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his

great love that he had for us, made us alive

with Christ, even though we were dead in trespasses.

You are saved by grace. He also raised us up

with him. and seated us with him in the heavens

in Jesus Christ, so that in the coming ages he

might display the immeasurable riches of his

grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

For you are saved by grace through faith. This

is not from yourselves. It is God's gift, not

from works, so that no one can boast. For we

are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus

for good works. which God prepared ahead of time

for us to do. So let's do this, now that my sleeve

microphone just broke. It's going in my pocket.

Let's pray together, and I want to ask that as

we unpack that section of Scripture that... You

just ask the Lord to speak to you. So it's not

just me praying up here. I ask that you do the

same thing. He does primarily speak through his

word. And so we want to do that this morning.

So Lord, we come before you and will you, by

your spirit, help illuminate this section of

scripture to us? Lord, if there's areas in our

life where we've not seen you properly, where

we've not understood the gospel clearer, Will

you make that real to us today? If there's areas

in our life we need to lay down and surrender

to you, will you reveal that to each of us? And

Lord, we will come as grateful, surrendered children

of God before you. We give this all to you this

morning. Amen. All right. Well, as we talked

about last week, When we were doing our Vision

Sunday, we're starting a real short series that

we try to do every year in some form. It's called

Radiant Basics. And we try to do this every year

because when we think of the basics of what it

means to be the church, it starts with really

this statement which we say around here all the

time. Who God is and what he's done defines who

we are and how we live. that it's the start point

for our church is understanding who is this God

that we claim to worship and what is it that

he has done, because everything from that should

flow into how we live. If you've been around

church, I'm sure you've seen it. I'm sure you're

not guilty of this, but I'm sure you've seen

how so many times people try to put on a mask,

they try to act a certain way, and it's really

not... who they are. Or they come to church and

they think, I have to earn God's favor. I have

to do something to get something. And when we

say, so as we unpack this, I want you to keep

in mind that statement and just think, everything

of who God is and his nature and what he's done,

that needs to change me. That's what's behind

this. So here's how this series is going to work.

So we are going to, all the Radiant churches

right now are doing this same series, and they're

doing it in the same order. In fact, most of

us are teaching the exact same texts. So the

way we're going to do it is we're going to be

all over the place. I'm here this week. Next

week I'm in Fairbanks. And Radiant, the Anchorage

pastor is going to be here. And I'll be teaching

in Fairbanks. And then the week after that I'll

be in Juneau. And the Fairbanks pastor is going

to be teaching here. So we're just doing this.

And so we're all getting, so you're going to

get a chance to kind of meet some of the other

Radiant churches. If you don't know this, there

are five Radiant churches. And we just call ourselves

a family of churches. We're fully autonomous

churches. We don't, we're not campuses or anything.

We've all been, we're all church plants that

started. And so we're just gonna, you're gonna

get a chance to know other people as well I get

to go up and Radiant Fairbanks and Radiant Juneau

will get to, I'll be able to be in their presence

and teach the same thing. And so, so let's, so

as a church, so we believe that who we are, our

identity, comes from who god is and what jesus

did for us what he did is what we call the gospel

it's good news that's what it means and so as

a church and i know this thing you've been around

this church like here we go again he always talks

about the gospel really not much else okay if

you're new like he always talks about the gospel

years ago in fairbanks in the first church we

planted The guy came up and he was very upset

with me. And he said, I don't like the fact that

you talk about the gospel so much. And I said,

I'm not going to stop. Case point, he left. Point

is, when you look at the scripture, the center

point is Jesus. And the good news of Jesus is

what everything, we are called to live our lives

around. And so we always start with the gospel

and we'll always end with the good news of Jesus,

okay? So as a church, we do this. We fix our

eyes on Jesus. We say this, Psalm 34, verse 5.

Psalms 34:5

Those who look to the Lord are radiant. Their

faces shall never be ashamed. So we start there

in our lives. Our lives are to be fixated on

Jesus and every facet of it. And Jesus and the

good news of the gospel is center. Center. Not

moralism. It's Jesus and the good news. And if

that's the case, all people are welcome because

the gospel is for all people, right? So in our

church, we say, everybody's welcome. I don't

care what kind of junk you're coming in here

with. I don't care how religious you think you

are. You're all welcome here. But one thing is

true is that in order to belong or being a part

of belonging to Jesus is saying, Jesus, you're

center. You're at the center of everything. And

so we start there. The gospel center. The gospel

is powerful. The gospel changes everything. And

so the Bible is very, very, very, very clear

on this. In fact, Paul says in Romans 1 .16,

which is, by the way, the theme for all of the

book of Romans, which you should know by now,

says through this, Paul says this, for I am not

ashamed of the gospel because it is the power

of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

first to the Jew and also to the Greek. It's

the power of God for the gospel. Why do we go

back to the gospel every week? Because it is

the power of God. That's where it's found. If

you want power to see your life changed, if you

are broken, you say, I come to the gospel. A

newsflash, we're all broken here, starting with

me. So that's why we go back to it. 1 Corinthians

15 says this, verse 3. For I pass on to you,

by the way, this is the most used section of

Scripture in every Easter service around the

world. He says this. For I pass on to you as

most important. what I also received, that Christ

died for our sins according to the scriptures,

that he was buried, and that he was raised on

the third day according to the scriptures. That's

the gospel message right there. Now what the

implications of that is massive. And so the gospel

is the most important because it changes everything

about us. It changes everything if you really

believe it. Now you can go to church, you can

hear the gospel, and not change anything because

you have not surrendered your life to it. But

we start with saying the gospel cries out for

you and I to surrender our lives to Jesus because

of what Jesus has done. So it gives us a new

identity. And so for our radiant basics, we start

with gospel. And then the next three weeks are

what I call identity handholds for who you are.

Who God is and what he's done, that's what we're

going to talk about today. But then after that,

it says, now who you are is this. By the way,

if we say who you are, and I go through like

first one is family. We say, okay, the gospel,

the good news of Jesus points to the fact that

you now, if you put your faith in Jesus, are

family. Then if we say we're family, are we actually

living that out as a group of people? That's

the hard part. That's the part that says. Who

we are and how we live. Okay? So first week is

gospel. Second week is family. That's James Marchetti

in Anchorage is going to preach that here. And

then the third week is servant. And Ben will

preach that here. And then I'll be back when

we move to the new building. On that February

8th will be the theme of mission. That God has

called us to live on mission. So three identities.

We'll go into there. Now. There are so many passages

that we could talk about when it comes to the

gospel. I just had two of them coming up to that.

But we're going to look at Ephesians 2, 1 through

10. And this is really a remarkable verse, chunk

of verses. And we're going to just touch on a

few of the things today. But on one hand, it's

a really simple summary of the gospel and the

effects of it. On the other hand, it is, you

could mine the depth of these verses hours upon

hours upon hours. There's so much richness in

here. And so as we go through this, I want you

to think of these in four points, okay? These

10 verses, we're going to break them into four

chunks. First one is this, and these are just

parts of the verses. Verse one, number one is,

and you. Number two, but God. Number three, saved

by grace. And then number four, for good works.

Okay? That almost sounds like a verse all by

itself. These are just, and you, but God, saved

by grace for God's work. Okay. The Bible refers

to the concept of being saved. It's the idea

of deliverance. When you're delivered from something.

The whole passage here is really a discussion

of God's deliverance and salvation or you being

saved. That's what this whole chunk of 10 verses

are really camping out on. And so the question

is, what have you been saved from? You've got

to start with that one. What have you been saved

from? If you were saved, delivered, if there

was something here you were delivered from, and

then obviously we're going to get saved to what?

So verse 1 is the and you. And this verse is

about you, who you are or were without Jesus.

So let's look at verse 1 starting, and we're

going to go through verse 3. It says this, and

you were dead in your trespasses and sins in

which you previously walked according to the

ways of this world. According to the ruler of

the power of the air. That's Satan. You can write

that in there. That's him. That's his control.

The spirit now working in the disobedient. That's

the spirit of the enemy working in those who

are not followers of Jesus. What are you talking

about? We too all previously lived among them

in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations

of your flesh and thoughts. And we're by nature

under wrath as the others were also. All right.

Before we can understand and embrace a new identity

in Christ, we must accept our identity apart

from Christ. Okay? We need to accept the truth

about our needy condition. We need to go to the...

What the Sermon on the Mount calls the poor in

spirit. That's when you look at yourself like

in the mirror and you go, oh, without Jesus,

I'm a mess. I'm gross. I'm poor in spirit. Sermon

on the Mount is amazing as it builds like a sunrise

of information for you as you go through it.

But the very first thing is this, that you and

I have to get is how bad you are without Christ.

You are poor in spirit. And then the second one

is that it grieves you so much that you weep

over your situation. Do you see your own sin

as this bad? This is where he starts. So the

question is, from what are we saved and delivered

from? Number one, or first is this. It's death

and separation from God forever. Death is the

first and foremost penalty of sin. Because of

sin, death entered the world and spread to all.

And every one of us are carrying around this

death wish. Right now, the success rate is 100%.

We're all stuck. I feel it every morning as I

wake up now. I'm getting older. I'm starting

to, ah. I was talking to somebody this morning.

They said, I think when you hit 55, you're just

constantly in pain of some form. Pretty close.

Because your body's dying. And it's a result

of sin in our broken world. And so there's this

moment of time that we live in this brokenness.

But death is a final separation from the removal

of life. Duh. Right? That's what death is. It

separates us from, though, the source of life.

What's the source of life? Why is this such a

big deal? Since all of life originates in God,

death is separation from God, both spiritually

and physically. And it's by God's grace that

you have a shot right now in this brokenness.

Because someday every one of us is going to die

as a result of the sin that has entered the world.

The question is, will you be separated forever

from God? Or not. See, death is final. And it's

forever. And that's a long time. Every one of

us who has not put our faith in Jesus is separated

from the life of God because of sin. And so as

I think about this, that thought, that truth.

When I think about our city, when I think about

my neighborhood, when I think about walking through

the halls of Colony High School, which I get

a chance to coach, and I see all these kids,

and I think, oh, so many don't know Jesus. And

so when death comes, it's separation for eternity.

And so in the inside of you, if you're a follower

of Jesus, that'll create a sense of urgency in

you. Everyone will die. With our backs toward

God and your face toward your own selfishness

and sin, you daily walk deeper into the darkness

and devastation of death. Unless you turn to

Jesus. The course or the way of this world is

instead of God is... is to choose or pursue power,

to pursue money, to pursue self -satisfaction.

It's the pursuit of comfort. It's the pursuit

of significance, the pursuit of beauty, the pursuit

of control. We choose all of these instead of

Jesus. That's what the world does. That's what

he's talking about. The Christian, though, is

the one who repents by turning your back on sin.

Acknowledging this is my junk. And turning toward

God and facing him and what he has done. So when

you put your faith in Jesus, you are saved from

the power of death. And you are saved from the

pattern of this worldly living that we have.

So what God does, he says, looks at you and he

says, if you have put your faith in Jesus, the

Bible says you are a new creation. The old is

gone, the new has come. And so there's inside

of you a desire to please your God, not yourself.

Now it doesn't mean we have to struggle with

that. Like I wake up every day and struggle with

my own selfishness. But inside of you there's

this desire to say, God, I want you first. When

you put your faith in Jesus, it changes you.

And so just look at verse 2 one more time. In

which you previously walked in the ways of this

world, according to the ruler and the power of

the air, the spirit, now working in the disobedient.

But when, he says, when this world ruled you,

and who drives this world? But Satan himself.

And he wants you to not acknowledge Jesus. But

when you put your faith in Christ, you are following

and obeying, you are no longer following or obeying

the ruler or power of this world. So faith is

a significant identity shift. It's an identity

shift that you believe you're all of that and

you've got it figured out to saying, God, I surrender

all of you because you're the only hope that

I have. The word heir would have made sense to

the original readers. See, the heir in Ephesians,

is is not something you and i read i get that

that's what it means and ancient thinking was

that there was a region below the moon and above

the earth and they believed that in this space

is where all the spiritual powers dwelled evil

controlling powers and so paul is saying here

is that there is a dark spiritual power at work

in those who are not in christ So before Christ,

verse 3 says, we too all previously lived among

them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the

inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we

were by nature children of wrath. Those are not

fun verses, are they? You're children of wrath.

By nature means that by nature we were separated

from God. By nature you are walking dead. Zombie

type, in a sense, spiritually. By nature, you

are drawn in by worldly pursuits. By nature,

you are subject to Satan's powers. By nature,

you are worthy to receive God's wrath and eternal

judgment. That's what you deserved. But God,

number two. Look at, but God, in his grace, saves

you. This is your second point. Look at Ephesians

chapter two, verse four. It says this. But God,

underline that, circle that, that's the critical

piece. But God, who is rich in mercy. See, mercy

is not getting what you deserve. God is rich

in that. But God is rich in this not getting

what you deserve. Because of his great love that

he has for us made us alive with Christ. Even

though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved

by grace. Grace is getting something you don't

deserve. So not only are you not getting what

you deserve, you're getting something you don't

deserve. He raised us up with him and seated

us with him in the heavens in Christ Jesus so

that in the coming age we might display the immeasurable

riches of his grace through his kindness. To

us in Christ Jesus. I'm going to ask a question

I think is incredibly important here in a minute.

See, salvation originates in love and grace and

mercy and kindness of God. Question is this.

Do you see this? Do you see God this way? Do

you see God as somebody way up in somewhere kind

of raining down? or a heavy hand or this distant

being out there? Or do you see God coming to

us with love and with grace and with mercy and

with kindness? That's what it says right here.

That's how God comes to us. And the question

is, do you see God that way? It is all of him

and his goodness toward us. That's what it means

when it says, but God. But God came after you.

But God, in spite of all jacked up you are, all

of that, he came after you in his love and his

mercy and his grace and his kindness. All of

him. See, salvation comes through Jesus. The

name Jesus means God saves his people from their

sins. That's what the word means. He comes after

you. And so, you know, if you live in religion,

you just kind of slide in, slide out of church.

You kind of think, if I just do my duty, I'll

make God happy enough. I'll be all right. I'll

slide. No. Being a Christian means you get how

wonderful God is. You go, yes, he loves me. He

gives me his grace and his mercy and his kindness.

And he comes after me. And I love that. And I

want him. It drives. There's something inside

of you. Like, when I first met my wife, I was

like, I couldn't get enough of her. And I still

can't, by the way. But she is amazing. Why? Because

I love who she is. And so I go toward her. Is

that how we go toward God? See, this gospel,

it's God coming toward us. Who God is and what

he's done, gospel, defines who you are and then

how you live. The question is, do you get who

he is and what he's done for you? Because it's

massive. Once we put our faith in Jesus. The

natural question is then, now what? What did

God say for us, have for us? Why did God save

us? He didn't have to. The answer is in verse

7. So he might display the immeasurable riches

of his grace. Radiant reflections of Jesus. Why

did he save you? God desires to show exceedingly

riches of his grace through you and me. Like

he says, look, I just like zap this love and

kindness and grace and mercies. Now I want you

to flip that around and be a conduit for that.

That's what he's calling us to. He desires to

show the exceeding riches of his grace. By giving

your life to Jesus, by raising you up with Christ.

giving you a new identity, and seating you with

Christ in his place of victory, God has demonstrated

his overwhelming love, abounding in his gracious

nature. He loves you, but has a plan for you

at the same time. Do you see this kind of God

looking down at you? Do you see God this way?

As one who's poured out himself for you? Look

at Ephesians 2, verse 8 now. For you are saved

Ephesians 2:8

by grace through faith. And this is not for yourself.

Which means you had nothing to do with saving

you. It is a gift. It is God's gift. Not from

works. So that no one can boast. That's religion,

guys. If we look at anything we do and we say,

look what I just did. That's religion. It's not

up to you. It's all because of what he has done.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ

Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead

of time for us to do. God had a plan for you,

still does. We are his workmanship. We are his

work of art, his masterpiece. Is this the way

you see yourself? Do you see yourself as something

that God has picked up and said, I am creating

a masterpiece out of you? That's what he wants

to do. We are radiant works of art. When I say

that, it's not just a play on radiant words.

But it's really to say, what is the purpose of

this masterpiece he made in you? To make much,

to radiate it outward. So everybody goes, whoa.

You are meant to live your life on display of

God. You get to display Jesus. Many years ago,

my wife and I visited the Sistine Chapel in Rome,

and I was thinking again about that experience,

and Michelangelo in 1512 painted the ceiling

in an amazing work of art. Anybody been there

before? A few of you. And when we were there,

which I found out, they were renovating parts

of it. In fact, they still are. I checked it

this week. They're still renovating this piece

of art. Little meticulous things. But one of

the things that struck me was the contrast between

the unrestored and the restored parts. You see

it, and you go, kind of cool, I guess, but blah

and bland. It had been around since the 1500s.

In this section over here, they'd restored it

back to what it was supposed to be, and it was

beautiful. You know, that's what God wants to

do in you and me. The reason God restores us

is to reflect his glory to the world that is

dark. It needs to see what he's done. It needs

to see him, and they get to see him through you.

The world is full of sin and death. And we are

God's people and a part of God's mission to see

sinners saved and all things made new. That's

our purpose. Our good works are a reflection

of his good works. It's not like God saved you

just now, get to work. No, we get to be a reflection

of what he has done in us. And he's still doing

in us. You don't get saved and everything's good

and fixed. You are in a process. And every time

your eyes are on Jesus, he changes you. And as

he changes you, you share that. With the world

around you. And people are going to go. You're

different. Who is this? And you don't get the

glory. But God gets the glory. So who God is

and what he's done. Defines who we are. And how

we live. So for us at Radiant Church. It all

starts with Jesus. And the good news. We call

the gospel. It's from God. It's from. the work

of Jesus, that we become family. And we'll talk

about that next week. It's from who God is and

what he's done that we live, we serve like Jesus

served. We'll talk about that in two weeks. And

it's the fact that we are sent out as missionaries

into the world. The Spirit sent Christ. The Spirit

empowers us. As we go into the world, we declare

who Jesus is. And that's the last. part of the

basics that we'll talk about why do we bob and

i were having a discussion this week about communion

and uh his point was valid in many ways he said

we don't really we need to have a higher view

of what we do around communion so i just want

to take a minute i want you to think deeply this

morning about what communion represents You know

what it represents? It represents what Christ

did for us in his death, his burial, and his

resurrection. It represents his body selflessly

being broken, his blood being shed for us. And

if that weren't the case, we would be nothing.

And so we come together around that every week.

The primary reason we do it every week is actually

there's a... Partnerships is whenever you gather

together, do it. But here's another reality.

We need it. We need to come back to the importance

of the gospel in your life. So as you go, and

you take communion this morning, if you are in

Christ. Now, guys, if you're not a Christian,

if you're just kind of, I'm not sure if I'm here,

don't do this. Don't do it. Because what you're

symbolizing, you're saying, look, what Jesus

did in his death. was his mercy was poured out,

his grace was poured out, his kindness was poured

out for me, God. You did this because of your

love for me. So if you're not yet a follower

of Jesus, don't do it. Because it's kind of making

a mockery of what he did. But boy, if you are

a follower of Jesus, you are in Christ. This

is a very significant thing that we do. We say,

God, I acknowledge and I am thankful for what

you did in the work of Jesus. Here's the other

thing. If you know you're actively living in

sin and you have not repented of that sin, then

you're also making a mockery because you said

your grace isn't sufficient for me. So do yourself

a favor. Sit right where you're at and confess

that sin to the Lord. Maybe you need to confess

it to somebody else, but get up out of your chair,

go to him and say, I am sorry. Or here, say,

I've wronged you and I've sinned against you.

If that's where you're at, then after that, say,

I'll go to the communion table now because of

what Christ has done for me. Let's pray together.

Lord, your good news is so good. Help us to see

you in all of your kindness, in all of your love,

in your mercy, in your grace. Help us to cast

our eyes on that picture of who you are. Lord,

help us as we understand deeper and deeper the

significance, of the gospel that it's not just

abc it's the a disease of every part of our life

that we will begin to build our life see our

life with you at the center of it and how it

affects every aspect of our life that this good

news matters so jesus thank you this morning

for the good news of the gospel