STAND STRONG
STAND STRONG
8.4 - The Dead Made Alive
As we enter the first part of Ephesians 2, we read Paul expressing what God had accomplished by his great power worked through Christ – the resurrection of those who were dead in sin. Join us in a discussion of Ephesians 2:1-10!
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Paul and Noah both preach and teach with the Cedar Park church of Christ in Cedar Park, TX. You can visit our site at: https://www.cedarparkchurchofchrist.org/
Well, welcome back to the Stand Strong podcast. I'm glad to be here in the studio as Paul likes to say sitting at the table alongside him and opening the word of God. And to today we are cracking open. Ephesians chapter two, we, we made it through chapter one. Took us a couple of episodes as we expected it might, and now we're getting to move into into. Probably, oh, well, it's not gonna be the most famous section of Ephesians'cause it's kind of hard to beat. When we get into Ephesians four, five, and six, there are some really well-known sections, but perhaps the, the most well-known section of chapters one through one through three is here in Ephesians chapter two. And that's what we're gonna be getting into today. Looking at what Paul says about our death and our salvation.
Paul:Oh, I love that he made alive who were dead. Yes. God made alive who were dead. Yes, God's part. Our part, it's all about salvation. It's about redemption. It goes back to some of the things, Noah, that he had mentioned in chapter one and especially that he had prayed about or he said, I want you to know I'm praying about this. I.
Noah:That we
Paul:talked about in the last podcast, beginning in verse 17 about the prayer. I want you to see and understand and be able to comprehend what God has done and accomplished in Christ and what that means for you this hope and this inheritance. So he's still connecting those thoughts.
Noah:Yes,
Paul:yes. As you just erase the chapter division.
Noah:Yeah, the chapter division here, although I wouldn't say it's one of those bad, there are just some chapter divisions that are just really, really bad and. There's also a practical extent to which we, we have these so that we can navigate the material. This isn't what I would call a bad chapter break, but I do think that sometimes it's to our detriment because we see chapter two as being unique from chapter one instead of really continuing a lot of the same thought. I mean, when, when the chapter opens and you were dead in your trespasses and sins. He's contrasting there, our state or the Ephesian state before God, before God worked. His great might that he prays about at the end of chapter one. Mm-hmm. You know, at the end of chapter one, like you said, he's saying he, he's praying that they would come to understand the great power that God had executed through Christ. Well, now he's saying before that happened. You were dead. Mm-hmm. Your sins, your trespasses made you dead. And he says specifically in which you once walked, this is the first use, I believe, in the book of Ephesians, that Paul uses this idea of walking. Mm-hmm. You know, we've, we've already referenced ahead of time, chapter four verse one, that he's gonna, he's gonna say to walk worthy of the calling to which you have been called, well, this is the first use of walk. He says, the trespasses and sins in which you walked. And he says, the way that you walk, the way that you live, that's what Paul's communicating there. It kills you. It kills you. He makes the same connection that we can find all the way back in the garden, all the way back in Genesis. When God says, the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Paul is saying you walked in sin and in trespass and it killed you. Yes, it killed you.
Paul:Yeah. You were dead. You were dead. So if, if by his great power, and you alluded to this, Noah, if by God's great power he raised up Christ. Now the exalted, exalted place and position of Christ, he is the head of the church. I. What are we talking about? Saved people, the church. Mm-hmm. But if God's power is demonstrated it through the raising of Christ. Oh, and he raised you.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:He raised Christ now and you who were dead men walking. He raised up.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:And we'll talk more about that later on in this context.'cause he alludes to that in verse six of chapter two. Raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ. Because you are in Christ. Mm-hmm. You're recipients of God's power demonstrated through what he has done in raising you up. He's dealt with your sins.
Noah:Yes. Yeah. Well that is it's sprinkled through this section, that idea. And it's really, it's a really big part of what Paul is talking about here. But before we get to what was done in Christ, th this first verse is just, so first two verses are, there's so much there that helps us kind of unpack and un unfold what Paul is saying here. Notices notice that he says, in which you once walked. Verse two following. And then he says, there's this whole list, right? Mm-hmm. The course of this world, the Prince of the Power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience there's a whole bunch that you know of discussion surrounding what each of those, why Paul describes things those way and those ways and, and what each of those might refer to. I, I, I think sometimes a more simple perspective might help us Here. The idea is we're walking in sins and trespasses because we're following the wrong thing. Yes, we're following the wrong people, the wrong powers, the wrong ideas. We're supposed to be following Jesus. And instead, the way that we're walking, the way that we're living means that we're following anything other than Jesus. And we all have lived that way. We've all been sons of disobedience and we've all lived as sons who are disobedient. And that's what brings us to there in verse four. But God, God made the difference. God changed the trajectory.
Paul:Yeah. Yeah. Look, clearly I want to be understood here. When I choose to sin, I must not, and I should not say the devil made me do it right, but he, if Paul has already clearly talk to us about the calling. And that has to do with what God did before the foundation of the world. He chose to do, why He wanted to do it. He has redeemed you. He has, he has provided salvation for you in Christ Jesus. He planned it. The son provided the spirit guarantees. All of this is the gospel. All of this is the working of God. All of that plan unfolds and, and Paul is revealing this again, to who? Saints. The holy ones who are in Christ. So if the Lord has already as an act of his divine choice. And a product of his grace dealt with your sin, conquered death, and he raised up Christ. He will raise you up. He's defeated the devil.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:So the devil's in this. So the devil doesn't make you do this. You choose to walk this way. You choose to think this way, but be advised there is the prince of the power of the air. And he's still at work in this world. That is maybe why he gets to the end of the book in chapter six, and he starts saying finally, but he, he's not done. Yeah. And he tells us about the power of God and the strength of God to help us to deal with our enemy, the devil.
Noah:Yes. Yeah. That's a, that is a great connection that. He, he brings it up here and he, he speaks more to the defense against the, the power of, of the devil near the end of his letter. Because it is, it is real. Mm-hmm. The temptation to follow somebody or something other than Jesus. Is a very real temptation that we, I think we all face. And in the end it is, it is. It's a product of the, the work of Satan and it's a product of living in a world that is broken by sin. We, we know the shoes. Of the disobedience son, because we've walked in those shoes and I, I think sometimes we we don't want to acknowledge that. I don't, I don't think I
Paul:know.
Noah:Yes, you're correct. This, this side of God's powerful working through Christ. We, we kind of want to go, hmm. No, we, we weren't, we weren't ever like that. You know, we, we had our issues, but we weren't ever that, we didn't ever have that problem. We didn't ever do those things. We were never in quite that desperate a situation. Yeah. And, and Paul, Paul just blows through that. He says, we all walked as sons of disobedience. We were all like that
Paul:one, one sin. And you're dead. If, if you look at, if you look at this concept of a holy God, mm-hmm. And justification by law, then one violation of law and one inning, you're dead. So there's no, there's no way I can look at my past life and say I wasn't that dead. Right. I was kinda half dead. I was a little dead. You were dead right? You did need a little bit of blood. You needed the blood. Yeah, you did. You needed Christ. The playing field is equal here, right? When it comes to salvation.
Noah:Yeah. There, there is no mostly dead. If we, we wanna throw a princess bride reference in there. There is no mostly dead in this case. There's, there's dead or there's not dead. And, what changed? What's different now is not by our power. That's a, a huge part of what Paul says here is you were this way and now you're not. And what happened in between is not that you just. Magically revived or you just suddenly were okay. Again, what happened in between is that God showed his mercy, his kindness, and his grace. He demonstrated his character and he exercised his power for your benefit, and that not only through that do we get to be made alive with Christ. You referenced that earlier. But now that changes the whole paradigm of one sin in you're dead.
Paul:Yeah. That,
Noah:that one sin in you're dead. That, that doesn't have the same power, that doesn't have the same hold on you as it did before, because now we have a connection to God through Christ and we've been made alive with him. You mentioned this earlier, that that idea of sharing in the resurrection as surely as God raised Jesus from the dead, God has reversed the power of death. If we go back to verse one, you were dead in the trespasses in your sins. Well, God has reversed that just as surely as he has raised Jesus from the dead.
Paul:Yeah. Yeah. I'm, I'm having to contain myself. So are you, are you through the first three verses? Can I, can I hit the verse?
Noah:Yes, go for it.
Paul:Okay. I can't stand myself. Two words that change everything. Noah, you know this two words that change everything. Verse four. But God, I. But God, those are the two words that change everything. But God. Verse four. Why? Because the focus is put first on God, what he can do, that only he can do and what he has already done.
Noah:Mm-hmm. And
Paul:has accomplished. But God. Okay. What about God? Who is, he doesn't say, just say merciful. Who is rich in mercy. Yeah. Because of his doesn't say love. He says great love.
Noah:Mm-hmm. That
Paul:he loved us. Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you've been saved, raised us up together, made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding. I. Riches of his grace in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And then we will get to verses eight, nine, and 10 that are the popular verses here in this first section, right, that have to do in grace through faith. But the point is that he starts out by saying that salvation and redemption came at God's initiative and it was the product of his mercy and grace. You didn't get what you deserved,
Noah:right?
Paul:You were dead. What did you deserve? Condemnation.
Noah:Yeah,
Paul:but you didn't get it. Why? Well, because God's very kind. He's a benevolent. Really? Yeah. I can prove it. Because he gave you something that you don't deserve. Salvation in Christ. At the expense of, at the death of, and he's now raised him up. Yeah. He's the head, he's the savior. He's the king. I just love how he goes here in chapter two with all of this.
Noah:Yeah. The, the superlatives that he uses to describe, to try to describe the, the kindness of God and the love. That God has he uses similar language when he writes to Titus in Titus chapter three. He talks about God's love loving kindness and his mercy that was poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ. If we are running out of words to, to try to describe God's kindness and His goodness and his love, that's understandable because it, it is beyond what we're truly capable of understanding. God. God acted from great love and great kindness, and he showed us grace because our, like you said just a moment ago, our sin and our death means that we need to be justified. It means that we need to be given life and we are completely unable to accomplish that on our own. We're a hundred percent unable to, to accomplish that. And that's where, again, coming to the more popular, more, more well known verses of chapter two, that's where we get to God in his grace. Right? We were unable to do anything about it, but God in His grace fills the needs that we cannot fill, that we could never fill. For ourselves there in verse verse eight. By grace, you have been saved.
Paul:You know, I, I, I can't remember where I, some, some of my best stuff is just forgetting where I heard. You know, or, or where I read and, and I would give credit where credit is due. If I honestly could remember, okay, I read this from this author, or I heard this from, from this source, but I, but I remember Noah having somewhere where, you know, it's different for everybody. If it's a bathroom mirror, if it's somewhere where your computer is next to your coffee pot, there's little post-it notes. There's, there's something that, you know, you're gonna see fairly early. In the morning, every morning. So you're a routine person. I'm gonna, I'm gonna probably see this first thing in the morning, every morning, and here's what it says, but God, by grace, four words that you're seeing every morning. Mm-hmm. But God by grace. So if you woke up in the morning with doubts, with fears, with anxiety. That might fuel you or remind you to take a certain disposition and attitude of faith into your praying that morning. Mm-hmm. If you're wrestling with a relationship, whether it's someone in the church or someone out of the church, but it's still a real struggle for you because it's connected to people that you see fairly often by grace. I didn't get what I deserved. This is not about a retaliatory spirit or what someone really should be getting from me. No, I, I don't want'em getting what I think they deserve. I want to, I want to be kind. I want to be merciful. I want, and, and if you're seeing that every morning, I. I mean, we're, we're taking Ephesians two off the page. Mm-hmm. Now it needs to start there. So you're the context guy. And, and yes, we, we need to see it for its context and what it was originally intended to say to us in Christ Jesus, all about God. But when we look at where we are and living in this fallen broken world, sometimes I can have dispositions and attitudes that affect. My life and decisions today and like, who am I serving? Not the prince. He's been defeated, not, you know, not my own appetite or flesh. So practically Ephesians two coming off the page, but God by grace.
Noah:Hmm. Yeah, that's, that is really a really good way of framing that and, and helping us see how. God's grace. And this is something that's borne out in a lot of Paul's writings. God's grace should produce something in us. Mm-hmm. And that is also here in this context, when he says, for instance, for instance in verse eight, for by grace you have been saved through faith. Faith is what ought to be produced in us living the way. That you just described where we are ambassadors of God's grace because we're reminded of his grace shown toward us. We become ambassadors of that living in a way that reflects that living that way. It comes at a great cost. Oftentimes it puts us at great risk and if we are not doing it. A trust in God first and a faith that he will provide, we will burn out living that way.
Paul:Hmm.
Noah:But we're, we are saved by grace through faith. Something that ought to be produced in us because of the grace of God, is that we trust him, that we put our faith in him. In fact, in this context, Paul says that's the delineation between those who are saved and those who are not, is that those who are saved. Put their faith in God.
Paul:Yeah. I, you know, look, if, if, for those who are joining us today, listening today, I mean, I, I want you to keep turning that over in your mind because Noah's, Noah's bringing something up here that, that generally, in my opinion, doesn't get enough attention in the conversation of a discussion on Grace. And that is faith, how, how faith is connected to grace, how faith is always connected to God. But now this is our faith. See, God has his part and he's done his part. My part. And so when, when, when I look at my faith. Part of this concept of faith, as you've talked about, connects it to what the Hebrew writer says. Mm-hmm. Hebrews 11, it has to do, when you hear faith, you, you ought to think assurance and confidence. Mm-hmm. So if my faith is rooted in God, then I have a confidence or assurance. God can't lie. He's telling me the truth. He says that he is this for me. He has done this for me. He calls me this. He says, I have this on and on. Okay. Faith says what I'm assured of that I have a confident expectation. Mm-hmm. And that's, I think. Something that sometimes is missing from our discussions about grace is the importance of faith. In that conversation
Noah:you referenced Hebrews 11 and one of my favorite verses in that chapter, I believe is verse six, when it says faith that it's describing one of the people of faith and it says he believed. That he, that God was, and that he was a rewarder of those who seek him. Mm-hmm. That is that is to believe not only in the existence of God, but in the character of God. Mm. And to trust in his character, to trust in who he is. And I, I, I don't think that that can be separated, like you said, I don't think that can be separated from recognizing the grace that he has extended. And therefore it's got, it's got to permeate every aspect of our lives, and there's this interconnect interconnection between grace and faith that. We just, you can't tease those apart completely. And when we try, I think we break the, the text of scripture. We, we break the teaching of the apostles and the teaching of Jesus and the, and the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. We've gotta recognize that connection.
Paul:And I wanna, I wanna take the, I wanna take this shot. I, I say take this shot. I don't, I don't mean to be too pointed or in any way judgmental. But when we get to Ephesians two, and Paul is telling, having said to the Ephesians what he did, I mean, we're reading someone else's mail. But now for us when we're reading Ephesians two, for by grace you have been saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works less. Any man should, most, we, we need to be thinking about what Paul is trying to get the Ephesians to see what he wants us to see. And that is not of yourselves, not of works, not of yourselves, not of works. And that's an important conversation to have about God. But God by grace. But since you've been talking about faith, here's my shot. It's unfortunate that when we read for by grace, you've been saved through faith. We stop right there. It and then say, but make sure he didn't say, you know, been saved through faith only. Sure. Don't insert only there. And look, I can't, I can't erase some, some things that are out there that are being taught that I think are not supported by scripture. I want to defend what is true, but I don't want to miss the context. And started having a discussion, well, he didn't say this. He didn't say this. Mm-hmm. Well, what did he say?
Noah:Right.
Paul:Why is faith so important to an understanding and an application of God's grace? Yeah.
Noah:And what he says next since you teased it, is this is not your own doing. Yes, it is the gift of God, not a result of work so that no one may boast. The, the salvation is clearly in God's hands. Dead people can't make themselves alive again.
Paul:Say that again.
Noah:Dead people can't make themselves alive again. So it's clearly beyond our ability. It's in the hands of God. We are in the hands of God. And because he is a kind and a gracious and a loving God, that is a good place to be for those who are willing to put their faith in him, for those who are willing to trust him. Now. We can, we can come to verse 10, and this is probably where we're gonna have to end for today. We knew we wouldn't make it all the way through chapter two.
Paul:Oh, no, what?
Noah:But verse 10 for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. I emphasize that because that's the second occurrence in the book of Ephesians of walking. I wish you guys could have just seen Paul. He was miming walking in his chair. It wasn't like
Paul:an Egyptian, it was like an ephesian.
Noah:Walked like an Ephesian. Oh, that was bad. That was terrible. Oh man. Somehow I didn't see that coming. Paul. But no. So this is, this kind of creates a nice kind of bracket for us. We were dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked. Now because we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus, I. We have been created for good works. Mm-hmm. That he prepared that we might walk in them therein. This comes back to the theme for the season. There is both our calling and our conduct. We have been called by Christ through faith because of the salvation extended to us in grace, and that affects our conduct. We are called to walk in these good works that have been prepared for us. Beforehand.
Paul:Yeah. You, you referred to earlier to, in the podcast, you refer to Titus three. Mm-hmm. With regards to, you know, mercy and kindness and what God has done. And when you finish that context in Titus three, he just makes this point in verse eight. This is a faithful saying, Titus three, verse eight, that those who believe in God should be careful to maintain good works, you know, and so that Paul's, Paul's making that point here in Ephesians too. You've been saved by grace through faith. Now since you've been recreated in Christ Jesus, you know, God has raised you up. And so. You're gonna become his people that are gonna be naturally zealous and interested in these kinds of works. Yes. This kind of life. I have heard this before. Jesus didn't just dial the cross to save us from our sins.
Noah:Hmm.
Paul:Ephesians one. Yes, he did. To save us from our sins, but not just to save us from our sins. He died on the cross. To change us. To transform us. And I've heard you preach that before. That's Ephesians too.
Noah:Yeah.
Paul:That's Grace.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:So the song that we sing all the time, we talk about Grace, is, you know how amazing Grace is? Yeah. Grace. Grace has saved us. It's amazing. But he says it was grace that taught my heart to fear. So what is, what is Grace? What is my faith connected to Grace? I want to be that kind of workmanship. I want to be this product of renewal and restoration and forgiveness and transformation. I want to know what the works are. I want to know what, what zeal I should have, and, and. That's, that's me.
Noah:Yeah,
Paul:that's me.
Noah:Yeah. Well, we made it through about half of the chapter, so if you're following along with us next time, we can plan to continue in Ephesians chapter two as we work through the text and try to try to understand what Paul is teaching, the Ephesians, and then what Paul's trying to teach us, you know, 2000 years later. So thank you for coming along with us on this. Journey through the book of Ephesians.
Paul:Yeah. Yeah. I look forward to it. He's gonna tell us about being members of the household of God, the holy temple of the Lord, a dwelling place of God's spirit.
Noah:Mm.
Paul:Wow. He's, again, we need to let the creator define his creation in Christ Jesus. Us. What are we? Who are we? That's as powerful as anything else. And that's grace.
Noah:Mm-hmm.
Paul:That's faith. So thank you. Today we hope that Ephesians is helping you. It's helping us to be the product that God dreamed us to be, intended us for us to be in Christ Jesus. And between now and next week. May the Lord give us grace and favor to help us together to stand strong.
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