Changing Our Direction

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Ephesians 2:1-10.

God has a story…a story written to include us. And when our story intersects the story of God, the words on the page surprise us. [Read Text 2:1-3]. We are dead. Death has been labeled the new American taboo. Death is something we don’t talk about. Dead—What does it mean to be dead? Without life, without breath, without freedom of choice, without ability, without power, without hope. Dead.

Characteristics of being dead:

  • Dead (2:1); disobedient (2:2-3a); depraved (2:3b); doomed (2:3c).
  • We reach that moment, our awareness, that it is hopeless. We are hopeless. There is nothing you can do. We are beyond help from any earthly power.
  • We feel that way with a job loss, cancer diagnosis, child’s addiction, divorce. And we all have those times in our lives where we feel powerless. And it is in those times of God’s absence that we can be most attuned to God’s arrival. However, what Paul is describing here is beyond those moments of despair. Paul here is talking about being dead, disobedient, depraved, and doomed. It is here that we learn the true meaning of being hopeless.

Questions:

  1. Share a story when you experienced spiritual “deadness” in your life and how Christ “made you alive” again.
  2. Are there areas in your life where you are longing for “new life”? Do you ever feel like a “zombie,” going through the motions of the day disconnected from the power, life, energy, and joy of God?
  3. Being raised in a Christian home and now raising young children in a Christian home, how does Paul’s description depict people who have always known and enjoyed being included in the family of God? Sometimes we enter God’s story, not like the Ephesians (first generation Christians) but third or fourth generation Christians. We have always known the beauty of being in God’s family. How does this story make sense?
  4. And yet, are we not all, in terms of the Gospel, first generation Christians?

BUT … [Read 2:4-10]. God is able to rewrite past chapters…

Not like a person who would dig up the old body of sin and play with it and dance with it. Not buried 6 inches deep so we can have easy access or sweaty old clothes … Not resuscitation but resurrection—lifeguard on the beach, the doctor with the electric paddles. But as a member of the resurrected family enthroned with Christ.

  • God has loved us (2:4); God has intervened. He allowed his son to die the criminal’s death. The scandal of the cross. He died the death of shame, dishonor, and disgrace. Cursed is he who hangs on a tree. Out of his mercy.
  • God has quickened us (2:5);
  • God has exalted us (2:6); Co-enthronement is a basis for ethic.
  • God sustains us (2:7-9). In order that . . .
  • This is a shared experience—with Christ and with fellow believers.

Questions:

  1. Verse 4 begins with the words “But God…” We were struck, but God entered our story and saved us. The refrain ‘But God” is used in many churches to describe moments of grace in our lives, how all would have been lost were it not for God’s gracious intervention. Share some “But God” moments from your own life.
  2. Do you find grace unbelievable? Is there still something within you that seeks to justify, fix, or clean up yourself? Where do you think this desire comes from? Why do we resist the message of grace?
  3. Where are you experiencing resurrection in your life, moments of “new life”? Where is God raising you up?
  4. What makes the resurrection life different from others who are experiencing “good” things in their non-christian experiences? For example, what makes my church small group distinctive from a social club or supper club? Or non religious parents who raise their kids to be good, generous, kind, citizens? Why do spiritual people need the church?

And God can co-author future chapters of our lives.

  • This then excludes boasting. Boasting excludes the glory of God. God cannot work with a boastful people. God collaborates, co-authors with us…
  • And we are created to do good works. The place of good works is to demonstrate the workmanship of God. Our works are a product of his activity in our lives.
  • And we can join God’s work. Our future is written into the story of God. The future of this story? The next chapter?

The demonstration of God’s power that is available to us who believe is our own resurrection.

Know your story—You were dead. God made you alive.