The Gospel is Free but Never Cheap

And tonight we're going to look at Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1 to 10, which is what you

Ephesians 2:1–10

just had read to you, a bit of a giveaway.

And I want to start just by doing an introduction which was provoked by me looking at and listening

to Russell Herbert on Sunday, something in the chapter that goes before, where Paul talks

about in verse 13, he says this, hang on, I've just lost my place, good start.

But he talks about how the Ephesians heard the gospel and gave themselves to it.

And I just wanted to say a word about the gospel.

And before I start proper, I do just want to say that I'm going to give, you know, what

they would call in a university a trigger warning, which I don't really believe in.

But I just thought I would.

And that is that what I'm going to do this evening is give some kind of exposition to these verses.

And what you need to know is quite, some of this is quite hard stuff.

And all I'm trying to do is give my feeble understanding of what I think is plainly written in scripture.

Unfortunately, I think it's widely accepted today.

And if you don't want to accept it, I mean, that's down to you.

I can't make you believe anything.

But just to warn you that some of this is, I think, difficult teaching and difficult for us to kind of think about.

One of the things that's very clear to me about the gospel message is this, that you can't add to it, neither can you subtract from it by distorting it completely.

In the early church, the early fathers of the church spent lots and lots of time trying to sort out what was heresy from what was mainline teaching.

You have to understand that those early fathers didn't have the canon of the Bible in its complete form.

It's one of the things that I think mystifies a lot of Christians today is that the early apostles only had the Old Testament to preach the gospel from.

I mean, you all imagine that, you know, how would you go about it?

I mean, don't put your hands up, but, you know, that's a good question.

And the emphasis on the gospel in these verses and throughout the New Testament, as a matter of fact, is it's about an audio experience.

It's about hearing.

And all the way through the New Testament, the emphasis on the gospel has to be heard.

As we'll see as we go through these verses, there's nothing that you can do to save yourself.

But it's hearing the gospel, I suppose, the kind of main place for, I mean, there's several places, but I picked this one because I think it makes the point very, very clearly.

Romans chapter 10 and verse 10 or thereabouts.

Romans 10 · chapter mention

And Paul says this.

He says, consequently, he's talking about the gospel and he defines it earlier in chapter 10.

If you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

And then he goes on and asks a really good question.

He asks in verse 15, I think.

He says, and how can they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

He says, but not all the Israelites accepted the good news.

Isaiah said, Lord, who has believed our message?

Then Paul says, consequently.

That is, as a consequence of this question, how will people ever get the gospel if nobody preaches it to them?

Paul says this.

He said, consequently, faith comes from hearing the message.

And the message is heard through the word of Christ.

So the emphasis here is on hearing.

And you know that in history, some of you will have heard this and very lightly, quietly applauded in your hearts this.

But do you remember, for instance, St. Francis of Assisi, the kind of strange, spiritual Dr. Doolittle who taught to the animals.

He said, preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.

Why is that wrong?

Faith comes through hearing.

Words are important in the whole of scripture, but in particular, words are important in relation to the gospel.

And today, we hear this stuff, I hear people doing all the time, kind of claiming the authority of the gospel to underline their personal cause and interest.

See, the ramifications of the gospel, of course it has ramifications for the environment, but the gospel is not the gospel of the environment.

There are many of you involved in doing great things, as far as I can best tell, in relation to social action.

I heard an American preacher the other day, we need to display the fact that the social gospel is the gospel.

It's not.

The gospel is about Jesus Christ.

And the reason why it's free but never cheap is that on the cross of Calvary, Jesus took what we deserve, died and rose again.

And this is a very much, I was looking through a Sunday magazine recently and there was an advertisement for plastic surgery.

And I wasn't considering it, but I looked at it and there were two photographs.

And one was a picture of this lady before she had plastic surgery.

It was her face, not anything else.

And then next to that was a picture of her after plastic surgery.

And I'd have to say, you know, she did look a bit better, if a little stretched.

And this kind of before and after picture is very much, I think, what Paul is talking about in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

And he starts out with these words, which if you give me a minute, I'll recover.

He starts out with these words, which are not entirely encouraging, are they, for us?

He says that, here we go, sorry, how do I tighten this up?

Somebody help me.

It's like watching a guy put up a deck chair.

Is that all right?

Yeah.

Got it.

Thank you.

So, you didn't realise you got cabaret as well, did you?

He starts out by saying this.

For, sorry, as for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins.

I mean, that's a pretty wild thing to say to people who aren't dead.

And Paul uses two very different words here.

Transgressions is a translation of the Greek word paraptoma.

And it basically means overstepping a mark, overstepping positively, willfully overstepping the mark.

So, an example would be, when I was at college, only fellows at the college could stand on the grass in the quadrangle.

And a big sign's up saying, you know, do not step on the grass.

Well, of course, that was just a temptation to everybody.

You know, people would stand there doing that, just to touch the grass.

Well, that's paraptoma.

That is willfully disobeying a regulation in the way that you overstepped the mark.

That's what the word transgression is.

The other word is your sins.

And Paul here, many of you might know this, borrows on a word from the world of archery.

And, as you know, archers load their bows and then fire and hopefully hit the target.

And hamartia was the word when you missed the mark, missed the target.

And here, I'm going to come back to that in a minute because I think it also reminds us of something else important.

Paul says this, I've heard about, sorry, you're dead in your trespasses and sins,

in which you used to live when you followed the ways of the world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air.

And it's a clear reference to Satan.

And the reason why this is important is that this is very much a before and after.

I said to you last week by way of introduction that this gospel,

if you could just give me a moment for a brief recap,

this gospel is, sorry, this epistle is about who we are in Christ.

And I said that is our primary identity as Christians.

Then I said it tells us what we were before we became Christians,

and this passage very directly speaks into that.

And it tells us how we're supposed to live in the light of God's spiritual blessings.

And then I asked the question, based on the end of verse 10 of chapter 1,

is are we focused enough on God's promised future?

Or are we, in the Western church, very this worldly?

So Paul is basically telling them here that they've got big problems.

And of course, just to remind you that the framework of these verses,

you could put in these terms, diagnosis, prognosis, and cure.

The diagnosis really fulfills what Paul's on about in the first three chapters of Romans,

where he concludes by saying,

all have sinned, no exception,

all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

That's the diagnosis.

The prognosis is death.

And of course, medieval theologians banged on about this.

We're really talking about two deaths,

if you're Lazarus, three.

The first death is the death that the writer of Genesis talks about.

When you remember in Genesis chapters 2 and chapter 3,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

there they are in this marvelous garden,

more beautiful than any garden you've ever been through in your lives.

And God says to the man,

the woman hasn't arrived at this point,

he says to the man,

you can do whatever you like in this garden,

but you must not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Do whatever you like, but don't do that.

Then the word tells us it wasn't good for man to be alone,

and so he came up with women.

And it was in the garden,

and one thing they couldn't do,

and when God threatened this,

he said, if you do this, you will surely die.

So as we know, the fruit gets picked and eaten,

and then the devil shows up in chapter 3.

He says this,

before the fruit is eaten,

he says,

you can't, you don't believe God.

You won't die if you eat this fruit.

Go ahead.

So they do.

And of course, part of the mystery is,

they don't die.

They stay on the planet,

and in a very long chain of cause and effect,

that's partly why we're here today.

But they died spiritually.

Their relationship with God was impaired.

All have sinned,

and fall short of the glory of God.

You don't meet many people, do you,

who claim to be sinless?

Though I did meet one.

I used to visit with his wife,

who wasn't very well,

and he was a kind of jobbing laborer, I guess.

And he used to tell me,

I've never sinned.

I'm like, well, that's interesting.

He said, yeah, I've never sinned.

So I was going out through the door,

front door,

and there was all this wood stacked up by it.

And we were just doing a bit of a refurb

on what we call the crypt

at the church I was serving at the time.

So I said to him,

any chance of some of that wood?

His wife said, don't take that.

He stole it from work.

Look, so the diagnosis is we've all sinned.

The prognosis is this two death thing.

Your sin, unless it's dealt with,

means that your relationship with God is broken.

The second death,

where we die physically,

of course, in Christ,

death won't be a brick wall for us.

It will be a gateway into heaven.

So Jesus in his death deals with,

in his death deals with both these deaths.

For as in Adam, all die.

As in Jesus, all will be alive.

So what human failures is Paul dealing with here?

Well, the first thing is,

he's dealing with delusion.

See, I wouldn't mind a guess that

most of us in this place,

and in most churches ever,

are slightly deluded

by kind of comforting ourselves,

even though we know we are sinful.

We kind of play it down,

oh, well, everybody does that, you know?

We tell lies and then persuade ourselves

there was something called white lies.

Not saying that, you know,

you might never tell a white lie,

but on the whole,

I think you're in a tricky area

when you do that.

And under delusion,

I include the word denial.

I think sometimes,

a bit like Jack the Builder

I was just talking to you about,

we can be in denial

about who we are

and about the way we behave.

I found this particularly true

when I was a chaplain

in a psychiatric hospital

dealing with people who had addictions.

You might be somebody with an addiction.

You will know that lying

becomes second nature to you

when you have an addiction.

And you even deny there's a problem.

I remember once trying to offer

a little corrective therapy

to my sister who was going

through a hard time in life,

who seemed to me to be

a little over-dependent on white wine.

Let me say, she didn't say,

Mike, I really appreciate your feedback.

She was mad.

Denied it.

Didn't want to know.

But I thought a bottle and a half

of white wine every night

wasn't headed in the right direction.

She thought I was a killjoy.

The second human failure

that Paul deals with here

is comparison.

So we said that

the word for sin

is that word hamartia.

It means when an archer

misses the mark.

And what I want to ask you is,

I mean, suppose you were,

I mean, you can go to center parks

and never go with archery, right?

I mean, be careful.

And suppose you had a go for the first time

and you fire ten arrows

and nine of them missed.

And one of them stuck in the target

right on the edge, right?

And then somebody who knows

about archery came,

did ten arrows,

nine of them straight into the bullseye

and one of them

just in a lower place.

What we do is,

very often,

we think,

okay, you know,

I sin,

but there are plenty of people

who are worse than me.

You know, I can name them,

I mean, not me,

but I mean,

you can name them if you like.

But the point that

is implied by this word is,

it doesn't matter

how many arrows you hit the target,

if you miss with one,

you've sinned.

And comparison,

I mean, my granny used to say to me,

comparisons are odious.

So if I console myself

simply by comparing myself

with somebody

who I judge to be worse than me,

what is that saying?

I don't get to say very much,

do you?

All have sinned

and fall short

of the glory of God.

And there's something

slightly more complicated,

what I call

distorted anthropology.

And that is

what the Bible teaches us,

sorry,

what

anthropologists

teach us

about human beings'

basic nature.

First thing

is that

we have to

bear in mind,

and just let me say

before

you start to

choke,

I am not

in any way

writing off

all psychology.

Okay?

But I think

I have to say

that one of the

distortions

of

anthropology

has come from

the world

of psychology.

psychology.

There are,

I was reading

an article

in the

Journal of

Psychology,

and basically

the person

was

saying

that

one of the

ideas

that

contemporary

psychology

supports

is something

I think

is a really

bad idea,

particularly

when it comes

to ethics,

and it's

the idea

of autonomy.

Autonomy,

you know,

is a

makeup of

two

Greek words,

auto and

nomos,

which means

self-rule.

Autonomy

is the kind

of thinking

in social ethics

which says

I can do

whatever I want

as long as

it doesn't

harm anybody

else.

Wrong.

I mean,

you can never,

ever,

ever

assess

what your

behavior's

impact will

be on

another

person.

And this

article,

the guy

wrote this,

he said,

autonomy

makes our

moral behavior

more effective.

I mean,

pardon me,

I wanted to

say,

what planet

is he

coming from?

There are

a lot of

more conservative

psychologists

and anthropologists

who think

that part of

our problem

today is

too much

autonomy

in the

name of

personal

freedom.

Second

thing that

I think

20th century

psychology

has had

an influence

on is

the idea

of universal

goodness.

Bible

says all

have sinned

and fall

short of

the glory

of God

from the

very earliest

days,

the days

of the man

and the woman

in the garden.

No,

no,

no,

say 20th

century

people,

you're

good.

And you

need to

focus on

the fact

that you're

good.

And you

could even,

I've read

this,

you know,

some people

will tell

you,

stand in

front of

a mirror

in the

morning and

tell yourself

how brilliant

you are.

I mean,

you know,

I don't know

whether Stephen

Hawkins did

that or

Elon Musk

or any of

these people.

But,

I mean,

not only

this,

but very

often now

in schools

this kind

of child

centred

teaching

I think

can have

the impact

of

implying

to our

children

that they're

not only

good,

but they're

great.

And people

like Hillary

Clinton

can go

around,

sorry,

Michelle Obama

can go

around

schools

telling

people

very popular

kind of

misconception

I think

that we

live with

in the

21st century.

You can

be whatever

you want

to be,

right?

I don't

know if

that's

dangerous,

but it

clearly

isn't

even true.

You can't

be whatever

you want

to be.

We've

all got

our

limitations.

I would

not make

a prima

ballerina.

You don't

even sit

there

imagining

it.

And then

this guy

Frank

Ferreidi

who I

read his

book

and it

was called

Therapy

Culture.

And I

liked the

book so

much that

I

shamelessly

used my

membership

at the

House of

Lords to

invite him

out for

dinner so

I could

talk to

him and

pick his

brain.

And

actually

I still

agree with

his book.

It's just

I didn't

get it

off.

It wasn't

easy.

I don't

think he

had much

time for

religion and

I was

slightly

scornful for

some

sociology.

But he

basically

complained that

the world

has become

a place

where everything

is processed

through the

past.

So

whatever's

wrong with

you, it's

somewhere in

your past.

I mean

even Job

had to be

subject to

that from

his three

friends,

didn't he?

You've got to

search your

heart, Job.

There's

something

there.

And yet

the Bible

describes Job

as a

righteous man.

There wasn't

anything there.

And

therapy

culture, I

think, is a

way of

basically, my

problems are a

product of my

past lived

experience.

And some of

them are.

There's no

doubt about

that.

Some of

you have

had horrible

things happen

to you.

And you

can't pretend

that that's

not going to

affect you.

I mean, it

doesn't have to

affect you

forever.

But it's

going to

affect you

short-term,

medium-term,

and without

Christ might

affect you

forever.

The fourth

failure that

Jesus deals

with here is

legalism.

Legalism is

this idea

that if I

can, it

basically lies

behind the

idea of

earning my

salvation.

If I do

this, if I

behave like

this, even

if I put up

a mask like

this, I'll

be okay.

me.

And Paul

absolutely

nails that.

He says, it's

by grace you've

been saved, not

by works.

A work of

the law is

anything that

we do that

we think allows

us to make a

claim on God.

Paul emphatically

says here, and

throughout his

epistles, this

is not the way

you are saved.

You are saved

through the

grace of God.

And I

think, I

mean, you

know, I've

been around

churches for

years, some

of you are

saying too

long, but I've

been around

them a lot.

And one of

the things I've

discovered is

grace is an

idea that

people find

really difficult

to lay hold

on.

They understand

what it means.

They've been

told many, many

times from the

pulpit, it is

God's love shown

to you even

though you

don't deserve

it.

And yet

somehow, they

still feel they

got to earn

it.

You see what

Paul says

here.

He says

that you're

not saved by

works so that

you can't

boast.

One of the

things that

really shocks

me about

social media

is the

number of

clergy who

go on it

basically

self-promoting.

I mean, am

I wrong to

be cautious

about that?

You know, I

couldn't imagine,

you know, I

would put a

big advert on

social media if

I was going to

go and speak at

some church,

maybe yours.

It just

would never

occur to me

to do that.

I feel, you

know, that.

I don't think

that kind of

self-promotion,

I don't find

that easy to

square with my

understanding of

the gospel.

Okay, I mean a

measure of that,

you know, if you

become a new

grandparent, you

know, fine, have

a photograph of

yourself with a

little bundle,

you know, and

I think my

wife and I are

a bit blasé

with that now,

we've got 16

grandchildren.

He boasted.

Look,

legalism is a

massive problem

in the churches.

No, I'm not

talking about

unsaved people,

I'm talking about

people who are

saved.

Just what I

said earlier,

if you add to

the gospel,

you take away

from it.

And finally,

spiritual

malaise.

I, you

know, Paul

says this,

right at the

end in verse

10, he says

you've been

saved for a

purpose.

In fact, he

says, you

are God's, on

the reading we

had, it said

God's handiwork.

Most versions

of the Bible

say you're God's

workmanship.

You know, the

psalmist wrote

that we're

fearfully and

wonderfully made.

I don't have a

problem with you

standing in front

of a mirror and

reminding yourself

of that, because

when you understand

that, it might

make you a notch

more humble.

Fearfully and

wonderfully made.

And you're

fearfully and

wonderfully made

for God's

purpose.

In Christ,

you have been

remade.

And you

will not be

saved by your

good works.

Paul's very

clear about that.

But you will

be saved for

the good works

that God has

prepared for you

in advance to

do.

I'm always

shocked about

the weight that

a lot of clergy

colleagues have

on their shoulders.

I don't often

make special

pleading for the

clergy.

But I do

understand this,

that in most

churches, we've

talked about this

here, talked

about it in lots

of places, at

the 80-20 rule.

20% of the

people supply

80% of the

money.

20% of the

people supply

80% of the

horsepower.

And 80%

watch on,

maybe gratefully,

week by week.

Not saying they

don't do some

good works beyond

the church, of

course not.

And I want to

say, you know,

if you're involved

in a major

charity which

takes up a lot

of your time

outside the

church, well

God bless you,

that's good,

that is a work

that God has

prepared for you

in advance to

do.

But the

church needs

more of you

to step up

and fill some

of those vacancies

which nearly

every church

has.

You really

need to break

a threshold

of about 250

members as a

church, active,

saved members,

before you can

be certain of

supplying people

to do the

ministries that

you feel called

to do as a

church.

I think some

of you need

to think a

little more

carefully about

whether you

really understand

that the

workmanship that

God has put

into you has a

purpose.

And the purpose

is this,

that you would

understand his

grace and you

would understand

that you are

saved by his

grace.

Somebody wrote

these words and

they said,

grace means the

end of earning,

but not the end

of effort.

that's just

mirroring, I

think, in the

minds of the

person that

wrote it.

What's written

in Ephesians

Ephesians 2:10

chapter 2

verse 10,

and it's

this,

that we are

saved not by

good works,

but for good

works.

I wonder if

the Holy

Spirit isn't

speaking to you

about that,

that actually

there is

something,

you know,

I mean I may

be preaching to

the choir, I

don't know,

but we do

in an effort

to bring the

gospel I

talked about

at the

beginning to

this world

which is

broken and

breaking.

We do need

people to

step up and

fulfill the

ministries.

When I was

a curate,

it was just

when the

season of

family services

was starting,

you know,

I mean,

frankly,

as a clergy

person,

it would have

been my

personal

nightmare,

you know,

getting everybody

together,

trying to

say something

through a

kid's talk

that might

provoke

something in

the adults,

you know,

it's a rare

gift.

And I

was in

an archdeaconry,

it's quite,

you know,

quite a large

area,

subsection,

and there

were only

three curates

around,

and the

assumption

was,

if you're

under 40,

you must be

great at

family services.

so every

Sunday I

was shipped

out from

our parish

church to

go and do

family services

here and

there,

the vicar

got me to

do our

monthly family

service every

month,

I read a

book that

taught me to

draw cartoons,

and you know,

I became a

bit,

you remember

Rolf Harris

used to talk

and draw,

well,

it's the only

similarity to

Rolf Harris I

want to go

into,

talk and draw,

and you know,

okay,

that worked

okay,

and,

and,

so,

I would do

these family

services,

and,

I have to

say,

you know,

I kind of

wondered about

them,

I wondered

whether really

they were the

right thing,

and it was

only when I

said to the

vicar,

I think there

may be

people in

the congregation

who might

have more

of a gifting

for this,

and more

of a passion

for it than

I do,

it looked at

me as I was

completely

bonkers,

so he said,

do you have

anybody in

mind,

so I reeled

off a few

names,

so he said,

okay,

you go around

and visit

them and ask

them,

so I did,

they all

said yes,

and our

family services,

I think,

took a turn

for the good,

not just in

our church,

but across

the archer

deaconry as

well.

Friends,

I want to

ask you three

things this

Lent for you

to take away

with you

tonight.

First thing

is this,

do I

really get

that my

sins are

forgiven,

or do I

still live

under a

cloud of

guilt?

Let me

let that

one settle

for a

moment.

Do I

really know

that my

sins are

forgiven,

or do I

still live

under a

cloud of

guilt?

I remember

a lady

called

Pat in

my first

parish,

where I was

a cure,

the same

parish I've

just been

talking to

you about,

who did

the most

amazing job

of looking

after her

mum.

She gave

up her

job,

took a

pittance

of a

pension,

and really

looked after

her mum,

and trust

me,

her mum

was not

easy.

She looked

after her

and looked

after her,

and went

on for

two and

a half,

three years,

and at

the end

of it,

the mother

became so

difficultly

ill,

doubling

incontinency

and all

that,

she had

to go

into

hospital.

Pat

lived with

guilt for

years after

that,

because she

promised her

mum,

I'll never

let you

go into

hospital.

for

different

reasons,

there'll

be a

few

pats

in the

house

tonight.

People

who know

the facts

of the

gospel,

but don't

know the

healing power

of the

gospel.

One of

the things,

one of the

reasons I was

telling you

about these

family services

was that one

of the

things was

I used

to think,

you know,

we can't

go through

a lot of

dull liturgy

with these

kids.

So what I

would do

is I

get a

blackboard

and I

shout out

to the

kids,

what have

you done

wrong this

week?

And,

you know,

kids would

shout out

stuff like,

I wrote a

rude name on

the back

of a

teacher

in chalk.

I stole

snacks from

mum's

store.

All this

stuff,

I write

them on

the board.

And I

say,

right,

are we

going to

say sorry

now,

children?

All say

sorry.

Say a

little prayer

and then

I would

get the

board

rubber and

rub all

the sins

off.

I say

to them,

that's

what Jesus

had done

for you

on the

cross of

Calvary.

It

doesn't

always work,

you know,

a girl

said to

me,

a little

girl

said to

me,

she said,

why did

you say

God was

cross at

Calvary?

Shut up.

Listen,

I want you

to think

about this,

this Lent.

Do I

really know

that my

sins are

forgiven?

and the

one way

that I

will really

know is

whether I

can let

go of

guilt in

my life.

I mean,

there may

be some

reasons why

you really

ought to be

guilty and

you've not

confessed that

guilt to

God.

Maybe this

Lent,

maybe this

Lent,

you could

come clean.

It's not

that God

doesn't know

about it,

it's just

that he

needs you

to tell

him about

it.

Second,

can I

truly accept

God's

grace?

Or is

there

something

lurking in

me that

wants to

earn my

way into

heaven?

Which is

by grace

you've been

saved,

so that

none of

you can

boast?

Can I

truly

accept

the

nature

of

God's

agape

love for

me?

That

though I

don't

deserve it,

God

loved me

enough

to send

his only

son onto

a cross

of Calvary

to suffer

the most

violent

way of

killing

somebody

ever

invented?

And the

third thing

is,

you think

about you

and your

church,

I'm so

thrilled that

different

churches are

represented

here tonight.

Am I

working hard

on those

good works

God has

prepared

in advance

for me?

Do you

know what?

Just

focusing on

those three

questions

in Lent

creates an

agenda for

you and

for your

church which

is so

exciting.

Things

will be

different

if you

allow God

to speak

to you

through

those

questions.

So I

just want

to hold

a moment

there and

I'm going

to read

those

questions

out to

you again

and then

I'm going

to say

a prayer

and then

I'm going

to ask

you to

turn to

somebody

hopefully

you don't

know

and just

maybe have

a brief

discussion

about what

do I

make of

these

questions?

Is there

anything

there where

I feel

God is

just prodding

my soul?

Here they

are.

Do I

really know

that my

sins are

forgiven

or do

I still

live under

a cloud

of guilt?

Can I

truly

accept

God's

grace

shown in

Jesus

Christ

shown

supremely

on the

cross of

Calvary?

Three,

am I

working

hard

on those

good works

God has

prepared

in advance

for me?

Our

gracious

Father,

we

thank you

that

though we

don't deserve

it,

you poured

out your

love for

us on the

cross of

Calvary.

I

sometimes

think about

the cross

and close

my eyes

and try

to see

those cruel

nails and

crown of

thorns

and Jesus

crucified

for me.

Lord,

it is so

amazing,

it is almost

unbelievable.

So we

pray for

that gift

of faith,

Lord,

open our

eyes,

reveal

yourself

to us

in new

ways this

Lent.

Lord,

we're so

glad that

we're saved

by your

grace because

if it were

down to

our efforts,

frankly,

they'd be a

little patchy.

And

Father,

we pray

that you

would help

us understand

that you've

designed us,

you've

created us,

we're your

workmanship.

And in

us,

you are

preparing us

for the

good work

you want

us to

do in

your

church

and in

your

kingdom.

Lord,

would you

touch

touch your

people

tonight,

those who

are ready,

Lord,

to receive

your touch.

Praying,

Lord,

for those

who don't

know if

they're

saved.

Praying for

those who

know it in

their heads

but doubt it

in their

hearts.

Praying for

those who

are still

stuck with

the idea

of earning

their way

into heaven.

Futile

effort.

And Lord,

praying for

those whose

malaise means

that they sit

in church and

watch on while

other people

exhaust themselves.

And Father,

as we learn

later in this

amazing epistle,

you have given

all your

adopted

children

gifts.

Gifts

that they

may honour

you,

that they

may serve

the church,

and Lord,

that they

might be used

to be your

presence in

the world.

So,

Father,

thank you

for your

word.

Lord,

help us

to read,

mark,

learn,

and inwardly

digest it,

that it

may show

forth in

our lives

to the

glory of

your

wonderful

name.

Amen.