Walking Out of Death Into Life :: Ephesians 2:1-10

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[Introduction]

Did you know we are both dead and alive? 

That seems to be a weird thought, doesn’t it ... that we are dying, yet living ... dead and alive? But that is what our reading from Saint Paul’s epistle to the Ephesian church is declaring today. And this is not the first time Peter, Paul, or our Lord Jesus has said this. 

In John 5, Jesus said, an hour comes and now is here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Paul tells us in Romans 6 that you must consider yourselves to be dead to sin, on the one hand, but living to God in Christ Jesus, on the other. ... And again in Romans 8 that although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. Peter preaches this same word in his first epistle, saying ... this is why the Gospel was preached even to those who are dead, so that in being judged according to human flesh, they might live according to God in the Spirit (4:6). 

Which leads us into today’s epistle reading. Paul writes, God ... being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even us, being dead in trespasses ... made [us] alive together in Christ: [By means of grace] you are saved and remain saved and raised and seated in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that he can show in the coming ages the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus (vv 4-7).

THOUGH DEAD, GOD, BY MEANS OF HIS GRACE, HAS GIVEN YOU LIFE TO ENJOY HIS SUPERABUNDANT RICHES

1. We’ll start with death.

Picture now a hospital room with machines breathing for a body that cannot breath for itself ... and a family is standing at the door, afraid to move closer, because doing so means facing what’s happening. That is not a bad picture of what we are apart from God’s grace. 

Though living, we are dead. We aren’t merely wounded by sin. We aren’t merely weakened by sin. We are dead. That’s our present reality. We have no power to save ourselves. We are dead ... sinful, selfish, stingy, corrupt, depraved. We’re unable to please God. 

This is all brought on by original sin, which is a horrible, deep, inexpressible corruption of human nature (FC SD I.6). It leads to death. And all kinds of lust arises within us because of the disease that is sin. We are given to fornication, passion, evil desire, covetousness (Col 3:5) and a self-centeredness that’s focused only on what we think we need. We can’t appreciate spiritual things, because we deem them foolish, redundant, useless (1 Cor 2:14). Then we start saying why do I need God’s means of grace? Isn’t absolution for my generic confession good enough? 

We do everything we can to keep our distance from God ... to actually confess our sins ... because we don’t want to look at ourselves honestly. We do everything we can to avoid his means of grace ... because to do so means we must face the reality of death.

Death is one of our primary enemies. We can’t stop it. We can’t prevent it. It overwhelms us. It steals everything we know, and love, and are. It leaves us with a feeling that our lives have no meaning. So we do our best to confine it to sterile hospitals and nursing homes and funeral homes. We pretend death doesn’t exist and employ euphemisms to talk about it. We start saying our loved ones have passed away ... or have gone to a better place ... or that they are at rest ... anything but the plain word ... dead! 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, it is precisely when we stop running from that word that Paul’s letter to the Ephesians becomes all the more beautiful.

2. Because the next word is ... but God.

Our reading today actually begins right in the middle of a sentence and the middle of an argument. Paul has spent two long, soaring sentences describing how blessed you really are ... chosen, holy, blameless, redeemed by the blood of Jesus, forgiven ... not because you deserved forgiveness ... forgiven, not because you are here ... but forgiven on account of the cross of Christ so that we would trust the immeasurable greatness of God’s power in Christ, who holds the name above every name (1:3-21). 

Then Paul turns to describe exactly what we are ... dead ... and why Christ has come to us ... to give us life. We are dead in our trespasses ... or we should say, our repeated insistence on being self-sufficient ... walking in accord with the world, walking in accord with the prince of the authority of the air ... who is the devil ... who is the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience ... leading us to indulge in the overwhelming lusts of our flesh and mind ... leaving us as children of wrath, like the rest [of mankind] (1:22-2:3).

But God ... there’s that word ...  being rich in mercy because of his great love with which he loved us, even us, being dead in trespasses ... made [us] alive together in Christ. Those two words ... but God ... are the hinge on which this whole sermon, the gospel itself, turns. Everything before those two words is diagnosis. Everything after them is grace. And notice, nothing changed in us to prompt the turn ... because we continued being dead. 

But God acted out of grace. And Paul continues ... By means of grace you are saved and remain saved, and he raised [us] and [seated [us] with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that he will show in the the coming ages the superabundant riches of his grace in kindness upon us in Christ Jesus (vv 4-7). 

3.  Thus we have new life

So then, how does God give this new life to sinners who are, by definition, dead? Not through feeling. Not through any decision you will make. But only through means of grace ... ordinary, physical, external gifts by which God unites us in and with Christ, and thereby delivers to us his new life ... his abundant life ... his eternal life. 

He has baptized you ... absolved you ... given you the Lord’s Supper. Through these means received by faith, he delivers to you the forgiveness of sins, and therefore, life and salvation. None of the sacraments ... or we should say, “the mystery of his will” ... are greater than the others. These three agree. They work together. They are not empty words of God. They are not individualistic. We must not set one above the other, making one more important than the other. These means deliver the riches of God’s grace ... his unmerited love for you. 

And because they do what God says they do they are not symbolic. 

Baptism actually unites you in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It actually imparts upon you the Holy Spirit. We die and God raises us into new life (Rm 6:3-4). And this promise is for you and your children, for all who are far off, for as many as the Lord our God calls to himself (Acts 2:39).

In the same way, Absolution is not symbolic. God’s Word on this matter declares that you are forgiven on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus. And so you are ... not just a little bit, not provisionally ... but forgiven. 

The same is true of the Lord’s Supper. Christ tells us to receive this gift whenever we gather. Why? Because he knows you don’t stop sinning. He knows these words ... “given and shed for the forgiveness of sins” ... show us that in the sacrament forgiveness, life and salvation are given to us through the proclamation of the death and resurrection of Jesus. His sacraments all deliver the fruits of his atonement ... notably new life. 

4. So now what?

Only now ... after all this ... are you able to do the good works God has prepared for you, as Pauls says ... For it is by means of grace that you are saved and continue to be saved. And this is not your doing. It is God’s gift ... not the result of your work, so that no one is able to boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we will walk in them (vv 8-10).

What might that look like? How about actually helping the people in your community, notably your congregation? How about identifying the needs of those around you? How about not exasperating your children, but instead bringing them up in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph 6:4)? How about being considerate to one another, refusing to participate in gossip and rumors and all the while defending everyone’s reputation? 

Doing these good things aren’t conditions of grace, they are the fruit of God’s grace. They are among the many good works God has prepared for you. 

[Conclusion]

So finally think on this: In God’s eyes, you are alive forever. Christ’s sacrifice has washed away every sin ... past, present, all sin ... and in Him, and given you a seat in heavenly glory. Your salvation is the triumph of God’s grace, not your effort ... because Hallelujah! He is risen! ... in Jesus’ name ... forever.

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