Ephesians 2:1-9 - The Grace of Regeneration

Ephesians 2:1-9
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Message: The Grace of Regeneration

Time: Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians sometime in AD 60–61, around the same time he wrote Colossians and Philemon. Ephesians deals with topics at the core of being a Christian - faith and practice, no matter the situation.

What the Lord is Saying:

John Calvin comments that every part of salvation is authored by God. This includes even our decision to believe. As we grow more independent and seemingly more self-sufficient, this type of thinking that 'God does it all' is actually quite offensive to the world in which we live and naturally they resist it. It also seems to me that the Gospel or Truth is not that clearly spoken in our churches. Even in my own life, I am not sure if sharing the Gospel is a major focus of mine.

The last couple of studies that I have had on these subjects of grace have been significant. What I realized last time is man's fallen condition makes him incapable of making a choice for righteousness. Thus, our salvation is entirely about God. I still have free will and the power to choose but in relation to my salvation I don't have the means to choose salvation, thus God draws me.

I think in many ways we fear the real message of the Gospel which chooses some, but not most for salvation. That's the truth of the doctrine, but we as his followers do not who has been chosen and he still wants us to spread this gospel and speak to people.

As this passage make clear in Ephesians it is all God. Man's life is contrary to God. We are sinners. The Way of the Master presentation is significant because it takes a moment to do something simple and radical for this day and age - it helps people see that they are sinners. And sinners need God to intervene and save them.

Ephesians 2 presents tough words about the condition of man:

• Dead in your sins
• Lived in the lust of our flesh
• Indulging the desires of the flesh and mind
• By nature children of wrath
• even as the rest

This is the condition of man. And this condition makes us incapable of coming out of it. Our nature is a child of wrath - our nature. We stand in opposition to God. The work of salvation is entirely God:

• Rich in mercy
• His great love
• Made us alive together with Christ
• Raised up with Him
• Seated us with Him in the heavenly places
• Saved by faith not ourselves
• It is the gift of God

The shift from man's condition to seated in the heavenly places is entirely God. I think this is why the diagram of the expanse between man and God and that Jesus provides the bridge is a good one because it shows that this big jump from lawlessness to righteousness is significant. It is a huge leap that man cannot make on his own. Yet, man is still a person made in the image of God. Man is not necessarily incapable of acts of righteousness. But, practicing acts of righteousness and being declared righteous are two very different things. I think we have this naturally tendency (and it is growing) to think that our practicing acts of righteousness will at some point merit salvation. I have heard people say and I have even thought that the sins I have committed in the past are not sins today. I am getting better, but getting better still doesn't mean salvation is in our grasps.

So people will do good things. They will show compassion to the poor and needy. They will restore homes and give to those in need. We have a country that is very aware of those that are hurting and helps them. But we cannot think that all of these good deeds makes us deserving at some point of salvation. This is contrary to our world-based thinking that hard work results in a reward. Most certainly giving to others yields the result of making us feel good about ourselves and that we have in a small part helped out a person in need.

The part we have in all of this is seen as having faith - For by grace you have been saved through faith. Yet, it would seem that regeneration and being made new has already happened at that point and the declaration by us of faith is a formality.

Promise: God is God and man is man. The two are separate entities. Man in his condition is fallen and that fallen condition is incapable of making the jump to being declared righteous. Man sinned and became like God, but this does not mean that gaining the tree of life was not of his own doing. God needs to make this happen.

Prayer: O God my Father, thank you for saving me. It is all you. None of it is me. My works are filthy rags in your eyes. You are rich in mercy and have great love and have made me alive together with Christ. You have raised me up with Jesus and I am seated with Him in the heavenly places. That is a done deal. You see me as completely accepted as completely loved and completely in Christ. Thus, in your eyes my position in the heavenly places is a done deal. Thank you God for saving me. I will never understand it and never should I.


Note: I follow the readings from the Tabletalk Magazine devotional, though I am a little behind and working through 2017 devotionals. 2017 is a study of key biblical doctrines celebrating the 500th year of the Reformation. The month of April is about salvation by grace alone. March was about the sovereign providence of God; February was about the doctrine of revelation and the various aspects of the doctrine of Scripture that sola Scriptura seeks to preserve; January is about the doctrine of God.

Ecclesiastes 6:7-9 - An Unsatisfied Appetite

Ecclesiastes 6:7-9
All a man’s labor is for his mouth and yet the appetite is not satisfied. For what advantage does the wise man have over the fool? What advantage does the poor man have, knowing how to walk before the living? What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires. This too is futility and a striving after wind.

Message: An unsatisfied appetite

Time: Solomon's authorship is not stated. Solomon's reign as king of Israel lasted from around 970 B.C. to around 930 B.C. The Book of Ecclesiastes was likely written towards the end of his reign, approximately 935 B.C.

What the Lord is Saying:

This passage is something I do not see I struggle with. The idea is that we don't work hard to simply keep up with the Joneses, but I work hard to provide for my family. Yet, the Joneses are a problem in my life because they are doing things I am not interested in doing and so my kids love to spend time with them. I want to do work at home and simple activities but they want to go have fun in new ways. I guess I should allow them, but sometimes it hurts when I do want to do something that then they aren't here. 

"What the eyes see is better than what the soul desires." Do we stop at times to just enjoy what we have or are we too conditioned to just seeking more? This is the danger in life. 

From Tabletalk, "There is nothing wrong with having nice things, but if we think those nice things will make us content, we will never find our self in a place of happiness. The more that we own, the greater the temptation to make what we own the source of our contentment. But Christ alone can satisfy us permanently."

Promise: Work hard and then be content.

Romans 8:19-22 - Cosmic Redemption

Romans 8:19-22 - 19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

Message: Redemption from Chasing after wind

Time: This book was probably written between 56 and 57 B.C. Paul was in Greece, probably Corinth when he wrote. It was sent to Gentile believers, but also believers with a strong Jewish element.

What the Lord is Saying:

In keeping with the theme from the previous verse, Paul is speaking or having me focus on the fact that my future glory eclipses or has nothing to do with my current suffering. I don't think Paul is saying a Christian must suffer to be counted worthy or in order to be accepted by God, but suffering is a part of being a Christian and as Christ suffered (5:17) then we can expect to suffer as well.


Just yesterday a close friend of mine sent me a text that said, "My wife and I are really hurting." They are really suffering. Their oldest son last year set out for college after his high school graduation. Much to their liking, he ended up attending his parents alma mater.  During the summer he spent time taking classes at the community college so as to be able to enter college practically as a sophomore. He also had taken college level classes in high school to get ready for college. He had been an avid fan of his parents alma mater, going with his father many times to basketball games or college football games or bowl games his dad had gotten tickets for. My son, Tyson, and I had seen my friend, and his son at a game we attended last fall. By all signs he was loving his time at school and was engaged with college life and on his way.

I saw my friend and his son on their way to the Fiesta Bowl, a New Years Day bowl game in Phoenix they had gotten tickets for, in Albuquerque around New Years Eve. My sons friend and I had even started connecting on Twitter. Well, I got disconnected from my friend for most of 2014 and it wasn't until he was due to come into town a couple of weeks ago for an annual golf tournament for one of his insurance clients (which he asked me to join him playing in as I had played last year, but this year didn't because Tyson was coming home from Alaska the same day). But my friend called and mentioned his wife would be in town as well with them so we (my wife and I) and my friend and his wife grabbed a dessert at Flying Star one Wednesday evening. During this time, they let us know some surprising news. Unbeknownst to either of them, toward the end of last fall, their son, in his 1st semester (Fall) at college, at the end of November, stopped attending his classes and determined that college life was not for him. He didn't finish out the year and ended up getting no credit for his classes. He would not be returning to that school in the Spring. He didn't feel like he fit at that school, though his father was able to enroll him in a community college where his father had grown up and even get a full ride scholarship to this community college as well. His son also secured a job. 

Well, then, they learned something they didn't know previously. Their son had been visiting the casino's frequently and had a consistent gambling problem. He eventually dropped out of the community college as well and returned home. He would get another job, get laid off from that one. And continue going to the casino's. He also had a girlfriend, a year younger from him, that was attending another university now. He would see her often. He would come and go at his house and his parents would often not know where he was at for days. He enrolled himself in an online university, paying for it himself. He got another job, but my friend just let me know he just got fired from that job as well this past Tuesday, on the day of my friend's birthday.

Now, my friend is suffering. I really feel for him and am actively praying for him and his wife and their son. It breaks my heart to hear about it. I shared Romans 8:18 with him, even saying that he is experiencing suffering. I encouraged him to keep talking to God. My friend has been a deacon in his church and he and his wife have always been real involved, with his wife leading a bible study for women for many years.

And now I think of these verses today, on the heal of verse 18 and its thought that future glory doesn't compare with present suffering.

All of creation waits
Verse 19 is interesting because it mentions that creation waits. All people wait. Not just Christians, to which Paul has been addressing predominantly in this letter to Rome. People are waiting eagerly for an answer. Every one wants an answer. People choose answers to life they are often comfortable with. People are affected by the environments they grow up in, by the families they come into, by their peer groups.

And Paul specifically says that people wait for the "sons of God." Paul mentioned this in verse 14 to address those individuals who are being led by the Spirit as sons of God. And then this led into a conversation of being in the family of God, of being adopted and how man can now call God father. So Paul is saying that all of creation longs for this level of community or familiarity with the creator. There is passion in faith. This is clearly evident. People have a longing for truth. I see this everywhere. I hear of our missionaries in India that are around Hindu's that get so passionate throughout the year and engaged in their worship of different gods. There are regular Islamic people of faith and then there are radical people exerting out pain in others. Everywhere there is this passion. There is even a longing and passion and fervor of those that say there is no faith. They so badly want people to embrace their thinking. So Paul speaks the truth that there is an anxious longing in creation.

The Sons of God are not the sons of Adam which are the sons of disobedience or the sons of the father of lies in the world. People don't long to be wrong or to be in sin and to be distant from the answer. It is true many people are in this predicament or way of life, but what people long for is truth and to be aligned with truth. 

The other thing that is compelling about this verse is people are looking for sons of God that are of substance. People are God's representatives on this earth and other people are looking at the kind of lives the children of God are living. It is always amazing the admiration that is placed on the lives of Mormon's. Why is this? Because they so clearly stand out in the crowd. They have high morals and good works. They model their faith very well. They have great families. They are very appealing. The problem with many Christians is how much they look like the world. It seems at times that the way we act is no different from anyone else. We don't look any different or act any different. There should be a difference if we are truly sons of God.

Futility
In verse 20, it states, "For the creation was subjected to futility." Solomon often recorded these thoughts, that there is nothing new under the sun. All life is a repeat. Life at times does feel like a progressive act of futility or chasing after the wind.

When I see futility, I wonder why, but Paul clearly sets us straight and states that this is God's doing. We are meant to be dissatisfied with life. What does the Law do again? It exposes our sin and illuminates our sin. It shows us the need we have for a Savior. And all of life is constantly pointing us to that need for something greater. The problem with man is he tries so hard to find his fulfillment in himself or in his fellow man. But, at some point, he discovers this emptiness.

So, to what end? Hope.
We are being moved toward hope. I remember chapter 5 and Paul reminding us as new creatures, upon being justified, that we can now exult in our tribulations. And through that tribulation it produces hope. Verse 21 states, "in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." It is futile and slavery is a corrupted way of life. Wow, I wish people could see this and discover this.

My atheist friend, Derek, that I speak to, that lives in London. He so badly wants to show me that God is not real. He has that passion for truth. And yet he cannot see the futility. And the hook life has on him, taking him down the road of corruption. His pride is exalted. He thinks I am burdened. I want him so badly to understand the freedom in Christ I have. I have the hope and freedom of the glory (of God).

But life is painful
In verse 22, Paul reiterates (as is his custom) "For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now." The Fall came in the garden. As Paul so clearly pointed out in Chapter 5, verses 12-21, in Adam man sinned and death spread to all. The Fall produced pain in childbirth. It's incomprehensible to think that bearing children possibly would not have produced pain. But, the whole world groans and suffers.

I'm constantly amazed at how often the question is asked, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" I think of a different question: "Why do good thinks happen to bad people?" We are all basically bad, darkened by sin, and none of deserve anything good. It's only by God's grace and mercy that good enters our life. This world groans and suffers, so why are we surprised when it happens to us?

Promise: Tabletalk, June 24, 2014, "One day, the suffering will be over, and this is a day for which even the earth hopes."