Sunday 30 August
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Ephesians chapter 2 verses 1-22
Made Alive in Christ
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Message: -
The beginning of our reading is exceptionally well represented in the verse “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God”. If we think of the blackness of sin and the whiteness of Jesus, at best you might think of yourselves as being a very light grey. The thing is that God isn’t looking at the overall colour. He is looking for the blackness of sin. The blackness that is still there from every time we do something that God sees as sin. And there is nothing that you or I can do to get rid of it. Even the fact that Jesus takes away the sins of the world is not because of who we are. It is because of God’s grace! It is because God predestined to give us the gift of salvation through Christ. It is by that Grace that the blackness of sin is removed and we are made as white as freshly fallen snow. Then we can take the place God has for us in Heaven.
Then Paul goes on to speak of Jew and Gentiles being reconciled. The point is, neither Jew nor Gentile are better than the other. Remember it is all that have sinned and not some, but All. So, when Paul tells us that God’s grace is completed in Christ, in bringing together Jew and Gentile, we all become the same. Saved by the grace shown in Christ.
Now when we develop that in our minds and our hearts there is something both profound and extremely challenging there for us to work through.
If you only ever had one sin, that you still needed to repent of and the person standing with you, before God had too many horrible sins to be counted, that needed reconciled, do you think God would look at the amount of sin in the other person and weigh it against the amount of sin in you? I can see no evidence of that in the bible. When God sees the black, the smallest amount of black even, he turns away. That was why Jesus cried out from the Cross! At about the 9th hour in a loud voice, Jesus Cried out ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’. You see he had the black of all the repented sin and God couldn’t look upon him.
You, me, our neighbours, the worst of the people we may think of we are all the same, we all have the blackness of sin in us! Only by repentance and accepting our salvation can we be made white as Jesus!
That is the same offer for you, for me, for our neighbours, for the worst of the people we may think of! So, if any of us has a sin we have still to repent of, we are there with the worst!
Thankfully as Paul records in verses 19 to 22, that is why the Holy Spirit in us is so vital. That is how we can be reminded of our sins so that we can repent of them and be set free from them. That is how we can be washed clean of all the black. Bit by bit, sin by sin, Jesus takes away our sins as we repent and eventually by God’s grace and power in us, we can become as white as Jesus.
But that gift can be a tenuous one! Woe to anyone who thinks more of themselves and judges someone else to be less. What if that in itself is the sin that prevents God dwelling in us by his Spirit? You see no matter how bad the world may judge a person; they get the same gift of salvation. All be it they have the more repentance to find as they face their judgement. That said as we too will face our judgement, are we not the same?
Made Alive in Christ
1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, 16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Message: -
The beginning of our reading is exceptionally well represented in the verse “All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God”. If we think of the blackness of sin and the whiteness of Jesus, at best you might think of yourselves as being a very light grey. The thing is that God isn’t looking at the overall colour. He is looking for the blackness of sin. The blackness that is still there from every time we do something that God sees as sin. And there is nothing that you or I can do to get rid of it. Even the fact that Jesus takes away the sins of the world is not because of who we are. It is because of God’s grace! It is because God predestined to give us the gift of salvation through Christ. It is by that Grace that the blackness of sin is removed and we are made as white as freshly fallen snow. Then we can take the place God has for us in Heaven.
Then Paul goes on to speak of Jew and Gentiles being reconciled. The point is, neither Jew nor Gentile are better than the other. Remember it is all that have sinned and not some, but All. So, when Paul tells us that God’s grace is completed in Christ, in bringing together Jew and Gentile, we all become the same. Saved by the grace shown in Christ.
Now when we develop that in our minds and our hearts there is something both profound and extremely challenging there for us to work through.
If you only ever had one sin, that you still needed to repent of and the person standing with you, before God had too many horrible sins to be counted, that needed reconciled, do you think God would look at the amount of sin in the other person and weigh it against the amount of sin in you? I can see no evidence of that in the bible. When God sees the black, the smallest amount of black even, he turns away. That was why Jesus cried out from the Cross! At about the 9th hour in a loud voice, Jesus Cried out ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’. You see he had the black of all the repented sin and God couldn’t look upon him.
You, me, our neighbours, the worst of the people we may think of we are all the same, we all have the blackness of sin in us! Only by repentance and accepting our salvation can we be made white as Jesus!
That is the same offer for you, for me, for our neighbours, for the worst of the people we may think of! So, if any of us has a sin we have still to repent of, we are there with the worst!
Thankfully as Paul records in verses 19 to 22, that is why the Holy Spirit in us is so vital. That is how we can be reminded of our sins so that we can repent of them and be set free from them. That is how we can be washed clean of all the black. Bit by bit, sin by sin, Jesus takes away our sins as we repent and eventually by God’s grace and power in us, we can become as white as Jesus.
But that gift can be a tenuous one! Woe to anyone who thinks more of themselves and judges someone else to be less. What if that in itself is the sin that prevents God dwelling in us by his Spirit? You see no matter how bad the world may judge a person; they get the same gift of salvation. All be it they have the more repentance to find as they face their judgement. That said as we too will face our judgement, are we not the same?