September 24^th, 2006

Who You Are, Who You Can Be!

Ephesians 2: 1-10

Pastor Barry Clarke

Let me tell you a story....

The 14-year-old boy shifted in his chair as the man gazed patiently at him. The boy sat in stony, awkward, silence as the question he had just been asked hung in the air. He simply did not know how to answer it. He wanted to crawl away. He wanted to get out of the room. But that really was not possible. The older man asked the boy once again. And still the boy could not answer. Finally he blurted out the only words he could think of. “I don’t know. I’m not sure!”

Anyone want to hazard a guess about what the question was? Was it a parent asking a child why he done something wrong? Was it a teacher asking a student the answer to a difficult question? Was it a doctor asking a young boy where he hurt? No, the question asked on that occasion was this: Why do want to be a member of this church? What does it mean to you to be a Christian? ...And in the end I simply could not answer. Here I was, a 14-year-old youth, raised in the church, saved at a young age and I was unable to put into words why I wanted to be a church member and what it meant to me to be a Christian. What went wrong? I am not really sure, but I know one thing. That question inspired me to take a spiritual journey in order to search for what it meant for me, Barry Clarke, to be a Christian.

I have often thought about that experience in later years. How did I miss being able to explain what my faith meant to me? I had just finished 8 weeks of membership classes. We had I am certain covered the facts. Why did I find it so hard to define my faith? I think that the answer for me was this. I needed someone to interpret the word “Christian” to me. I needed someone to put it into a real life so that I could really see and understand it. As a teenager I was fortunate enough to have a group of people around me who would really help me to understand, in practical ways, what a Christian was. I came to understand that I could view being a Christian this way. I was once far from God. I was now changed by Him. And he had a plan for my future. Past. Present. Future. Being a Christian impacted all of these moments of my life.

In many ways our passage for today, Ephesians 2:1-10 interprets for us what it means to be a Christian. Fred Craddock writes that the message of this passage is this, “You were dead. This is to say, you were caught in a futile way of life,…seeking the approval of your culture, heeding every inclination that led away from God, aimless and helpless to extricate yourself. But God, rich in love and mercy,…quickened your life and set you in a safe place in the constant presence of Christ. You are now alive, but not simply in order to enjoy God’s grace. You have been created again as God’s masterpiece for two purposes: to show what God can do through Jesus Christ, and to serve human need, engaging in good works which reflect the nature of God as gracious love.”

As we walk through this “primer” on what it means to be a Christian, take a moment to try to identify where you fit in your understanding of Christianity. Perhaps you find yourself struggling at times to define what it means to be a Christian. Perhaps you want to be one but have found it so ill defined that you are not sure how to take the first step. Or perhaps you have been a Christian for a while but it has lost some of its deeper meaning. Maybe you have never taken your faith beyond it being a personal experience…in other words…for you faith impacts you but really does not change how you interact with others. Maybe your faith is satisfying, challenging, and transforming and today will be a reminder to celebrate what God is doing in you and through you. Wherever you are on the spectrum of faith Ephesians 2 has something to say to you. Let’s discover together what it says.

The first question the passage answers for us is this: What is life like for us before we commence a growing relationship with God? What are the defining traits of life before Jesus enters the picture?

1. We are dead because of sin (vs1).
   1. This means we were powerless, helpless, and unable to do anything to help ourselves.
   2. Essentially we are dead men and women walking.
   3. A person who is lifeless cannot take action, make changes, or choose right or wrong.
   4. It is a little bit like my nephew’s recent experience. For days he lay silent, unable to help himself. He was caught by the circumstances resulting from his accident. He was powerless to help himself.


2. We are subject to many conflicting influences (vs 2).
   1. It is a life where we seem to follow the pattern set by the culture and ideals surrounding us.
   2. We are swayed by values and powers, which we do not question, and whose vision and motivation are different from God's.
   3. It is a life in which we are influenced by the evil that is active in our world.
   4. The image that helps me to see this clearly is that we are like a kite that whose string has snapped. We are whipped around by the wind. Before Christ we are blown around in our lives my many winds of influence…not many of which are healthy.


3. We were characterized by disobedience.
   1. It is a life full of choices that contravene what God wants from us.
   2. It is a life that is shaped by our own ideas of good, our own concept of what is right.


4. We were driven to gratify the cravings of our sinful nature.
   1. It is a life in which all we really want is that which makes us feel better.
   2. It is a life in which we are motivated by pleasure, our own needs, and during which we rarely consider what God might want from us.
   3. It’s a life in which even our thoughts are shaped by the sin that is running rampant in our lives.


5. We were objects of God’s wrath.
   1. It’s a life that if lived out to its logical extension makes us open to God’s judgment.

But the message of Ephesians 2 is this. We do not need to remain caught in this downward spiraling life. There is more available to us. What our lives are like before we come to accept Jesus can serve to motivate us to search for more. Empty containers are meant to be filled. And people in a deep sleep eventually wake up. People who are dead can come to life…. spiritually at least. The next question Ephesians two answers is this: What is life like after we have commenced a growing relationship with Jesus? Let’s take a few moments and explore what that life is like.

1. We are loved (vs. 4).
   1. We always were loved but it the awareness of love that changes us. When we become conscious of the lengths that Jesus went to in order to save us we know the power of true love. And God’s plan set it all in motion for you and I. This is love.


2. We have received mercy (vs. 4a).
   1. Remember we were objects of wrath. We were on the way to at appointment with judgment. And instead we find ourselves embraced instead of judged, forgiven instead of rejected.


3. We are resurrected with Christ (vs. 5).
   1. We were dead and now we are alive.
   2. We become people who can tap into the resources of God.
   3. Before salvation it is like we trying to live our lives with an insufficient power source.


4. We are saved by grace (vs.5a)
   1. God’s actions are the determining factor in our salvation, not our action.
   2. We find ourselves receiving from God all that we need to live, to be saved, and to live with him forever
   3. There is not one thing that we can do to save ourselves but at the same point we are empowered to live lives that please God…action is required in our lives but it is action that pours out of God working in us from the inside out.


5. We are seated with him in the heavenly realms. (vs6).
   1. We have been given a place with Jesus in heaven. That is our inheritance
   2. We are so closely identified with him that his new life is our life.


6. We have a concrete expression of the kindness of God in the person of Jesus. (vs. 7).
   1. We know what kindness is because Jesus revealed the heart of the matter to us: He put others ahead of himself, he offered mercy in difficult situations, he brought correction to those who were wrong, and he died in order to take the punishment that was unavoidable for us.
   2. I have met people in my time who struggle to understand kindness. When they encounter it they confuse it with something else…manipulation, someone trying to get something from them. What I have discovered in many of these times is that they have had a life that has been characterized by abuse, pain, and rejction. Kindness for them can be a word without meaning, without context. Jesus gives us a context for the kindness of God. Sacrifice and love.


7. We have been enabled to have faith.
   1. Think back to what I said earlier. If something is dead it cannot bring itself back to life. Without God at work in us we cannot even takes the steps that will lead us to him.
   2. We are given the grace to be able to turn to God despite our helpless position
   3. The Westminster Shorter Catechism states that saving faith is a gift of God's grace by which the Holy Spirit acts to "persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ.”


8. As a result we are humbled. We cannot boast that we have saved ourselves (vs. 9).
   1. The essential assumption when it comes to Salvation is that we cannot do it ourselves.
   2. Jesus had to die. Our situation is hopeless without his action. Comic with Jesus speaking from the cross, “If I am o.k. and you are o.k. then what am I doing up here?”
   3. The message of the cross is we are not o.k. and we cannot fix that ourselves but God has made it possible for us to be transformed.

The question that we need to ask ourselves at this point is this. Did God do all this just for us alone as individuals? In part the answer is yes. He loves us passionately and personally and acts in our lives in individual ways and circumstances. But God has changed us in order that others may be changed around us.

1. We are a work of art. God has recreated us just the way he wants us to be.
   1. A canvas. God steps back and appreciates his work. He has made us what we need to be. Can we appreciate it ourselves?
   2. And is our life of such a quality that others looking at us can identify God at work. That is he designs it to be.
   3. A piece of art that is never seen does not fulfill it’s purpose. God has recreated us, at least in part, for what we can bring to the life of others.


2. We are called to do good to others.
   1. What is one way that we can bring God into the lives of those around us?
   2. Our faith is meant to be shared. It is meant to be given practical expression in the lives of others.
   3. We are urged by God into service because it reflects his character and his priorities.


3. We are part of God’s plan.
   1. God has a plan that involves each person taking their role in loving the world around us. He has a desire for us to move into action, empowered by His Spirit, and following his example.

Where are you on the spectrum of faith? Have you been able to identify yourself in any of these different stages of life? If so then where do you need to go next? What does the future look like for you? Will you stay in the comfortable numbness of what the Bible calls a living death? Or will you take the steps necessary to wake up to the love and mercy of God. And if so will you find a way to explore the way God has recreated you for his purposes? Will you find out what it means to do “good” to others in the context of your life?

Imagine yourself in a room like I found myself as a young teen. The question echoes in the room. “What does it mean to you to be a Christian?” Do not be like me. Do not blurt out an unthinking answer like I did. Instead listen carefully to what God has said. According to Ephesians 2, a Christian is a person who has been rescued from a living death. A Christian is a person who has been given love, grace, hope, and salvation. A Christian is a person who has been supplied with a new purpose in life…a purpose prepared for them by God himself.

When I was young my doubts and struggles made it hard for me to define what a Christian is. I have since come to accept what Tom Skinner says. “He writes “I spent a long time trying to come to grips with my doubts and suddenly I realized that I had better come to grips with what I believe. I have since moved from the agony of questions that I cannot answer, to the reality of answers that I cannot escape…and it’s a great relief.”

And that is the true purpose of life. Coming to grips with what we believe. Living out what it really means to be a Christian. Step by step. Day by day. Moment by moment. Decision by decision.

Let's pray...