People Beyond Redemption?
Ephesians 2:1-10 (NIV) reads, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 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. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 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. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Mark Juergensmeyer, an authority on terrorism, interviewed the alleged mastermind of the original World Trade Center bombing of 1993. In the interview the terrorist explained why America is the enemy of Islam. Predictably, he mentioned America’s support for Israel and gave typical anti-Semitic rhetoric. But to my surprise, he talked about America’s ideology of secularism. Secularism is the belief that religion should have no influence in political matters, civic affairs, nor in public institutions like schools, colleges, or universities.
For example, we separate church from state, and religion from public life. We refuse to let our beliefs concerning morality shape our laws or influence government policy. So as a nation we claim to be neutral and impartial toward religion. Meanwhile, we blast Hollywood’s images of decadence, immorality, and self-indulgence around the world. We trumpet the greatness of life without God and life which is free from all religion. For Muslims, secularism isn’t being neutral or impartial to God, but it is a posture of hostility! It isn’t Christianity that is a threat to Muslims. It is secularism! It is the rejection of God.
When asked if the United States would be better off if it had a Christian government the terrorist replied, "Yes. At least it would have morals." When asked what it was that Americans were missing, what they didn’t understand, he compared life without religion to an ink pen without ink. An ink pen can be made of gold and it can be worth thousands of dollars. But it is useless if there is no ink in it. The ink is what gives life to the pen. In the same way, religion gives life to the soul. Secularism has no soul. Therefore, Americans have no soul. "They’re just moving like dead bodies," the Muslim said.
The terrorists feel justified in killing and maiming Americans because in their minds, we're already dead. There isn’t anything wrong with killing dead people! In fact, they believe they are doing Allah’s will in serving as instruments of his wrath and in delivering his judgment on infidels. The secular masses are beyond redemption! They are without hope, without God, and under a death sentence.
Our Need for Redemption
In Ephesians 2 Paul shares some hard-hitting truths about life apart from Jesus Christ. Paul does not believe secular people lack a soul. Jesus taught that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul. All men have a soul. Paul does not believe that the Christian is to be judge, jury, and hangman for the secular masses of society. Jesus did not come to condemn the world, but to seek and to save the lost. God alone judges the soul. Vengeance belongs to God alone.
Yet Paul’s assessment of person’s need for redemption is shocking. In Ephesians 2:1-3 (NIV) Paul says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 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. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
Reality #1: Spiritually Dead.
Consider some of what these verses are saying about our former life which was lived apart from Jesus Christ. First, in our former lives we were dead. Paul says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins." In the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15:11-32 Jesus tells the story about a young man who develops a rebellious streak and demands his entire inheritance while his father is still living! The son heads off for a distant country where he squanders his wealth in wild living. "Wild" implies only one thing. In the pursuit of pleasure he forfeits every shred of his dignity. He abandons all sensibility and discretion. He indulges every desire and thought. Like a wild animal he lives in the moment, seizing every opportunity.
But as the story progresses the consequences of his choices circle back to haunt him. He loses everything. He is completely humiliated, and begins living his worst nightmare. He grows so destitute that he longs to fill his stomach with pig feed. But nobody would give him anything. They’d rather feed the pigs than feed him. In the story the son comes to his senses, acknowledges his sins, and returns home to be reconciled to his father. When he gets home, his father celebrates his arrival. He kisses him, clothes him, puts a ring on his finger, puts sandals on his feet. The father declares to his household in Luke 15:23-24 (NIV), "Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." Warren Wiersbe explains what is behind this imagery of, "being dead." "This phrase refers to a person being spiritually dead. He is unable to understand and appreciate spiritual things. He possesses no spiritual life, and he can do nothing of himself to please God."
In our former lives we were spiritually dead to the things of our Father in heaven. We were spiritually unresponsive. Our ears could not hear nor our eyes see. We could not feel the pain that our sin caused God. The blood of Jesus was not flowing through our heart or animating our spiritual body. The breath of God’s Spirit was not filling our lungs. Our stomach was not craving real spiritual food or drink. Our mind was flooded with darkness. Our energy to live for God was completely expended. We were dead!
Reality #2: Controlled by Sin and Desires.
Second, in our former lives we were followers. Paul says we all, "....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. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts."
In these verses Paul is describing several influences that held sway over the way we lived before we trusted Jesus Christ. It’s not that the non-Christian always succumbs to these influences. It’s not that Christians perfectly resist these influences. It’s just that before Christ, we were terrifically vulnerable to these influences. We didn’t discern their presence and power in our lives. We couldn’t resist them as we ought.
First, we followed the ways of this world, literally, the ways of this age. We gave into peer pressure (what our friends think), family pressure (what mom and dad think), popular opinion (what the world thinks), and what makes people happy. Modern society had a deep grip on and sway over our values, beliefs, perspectives, choices, attitudes, habits, ethics, and morality. We were products of our culture and our time.
Second, we followed the ruler of this world, the devil with his demonic forces. Satan is at work in our world. His primary work is to deceive people with lies. Satan continually fills our minds with lies. Maybe you have heard some of them. He tells us that there are many paths to God. He tells us that all religions tell the truth about God. He tells us that the greatest freedom is found in violating God’s boundaries. He tells us that our sin doesn’t matter to God, that sin doesn’t exist, and that sin is only in the eye of the beholder. He tells us to live for ourselves, for the moment, and for our own pleasure.
Some of the worst lies Satan tells us are about ourselves. Depressing thoughts. "You’re a nobody. You don’t matter. You're ugly. You're fat. You're old and wrinkly. You're weak. Your life is a wasteland. You're going nowhere. People laugh at you. Nobody loves you. No one cares about you, not even God. You need more. Work more. Take. Grab. Get all you can."
Third, we followed the cravings of our sinful nature, the flesh. Perhaps the greatest symptom of being a follower is our inability to say "no" to ourselves. Our fleshly nature reflects our inability to control our appetite for food, for drink, for a substance, or for a drug. Our inability to control our sexual urges, our thoughts, to resist temptation, to look the other way, to abstain, and to avoid. Our inability to control our emotions, to forgive, to love, to be patient, to not explode in anger, to not hate, to not lash out, andto not force.
Jesus' words in Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV) are an ominous warning to followers. "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."
The crowd, the majority, and the secular masses choose the widest gate and the broadest road. They choose the popular path of least resistance. In our former lives, so did we.
Reality #3: Condemned as Objects of God's wrath.
Last, in our former lives we were objects of God’s wrath. Paul says, "Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath."
You don’t hear much these days about God’s wrath. The truth is that the Church has a ministry of reconciliation, not a ministry of condemnation. Our mission is to preach the good news of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. But the simple fact remains that the sinful nature puts us in a very precarious situation before a holy and perfect God. Our sins offend God. God is just in taking our lives and in causing us to pay the wages of sin, which is death. God is just in leaving us for dead, in letting us follow after the world, the evil one, and the flesh. God is justified in destroying the world with a flood as he did in Noah’s day, or in destroying the world by fire as he will at the end of the age.
But it’s not in God’s nature to leave us for dead and to abandon us to our sins and transgressions. This is what the rest of this passage is about starting in Ephesians 2:4 and finishing in Ephesians 2:10 (NIV). "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions— it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 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. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
Gospel! Made Alive in Christ by Grace through Faith
Notice the stark contrast between the first half of this passage and second half. We were dead in our transgressions and sins, but God made us alive with Christ! We transgressed the law and sinned against God, but God loved us and showed us mercy! We were beaten down and destroyed by our sins and transgressions. We were defeated, but God raised us up! We were children of this age, bound to this material world, lacking any heavenly vision, and living in the flesh. But God seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.
We had squandered our wealth in wild living and we had shot all our worldly riches on things of no eternal consequence. But in Christ, God showed us the incomparable riches of his grace. We were living for ourselves, selfishly pursuing our own paths, refusing to look out for the needs of others, and refusing to love our neighbors as our ourselves. We refused to love God with all of our heart, mind, body, and soul. Yet God expressed his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. He made us his workmanship. He prepared good works for us to do.
On the one hand, this passage says a lot about our former lives apart from Christ. But this passage is really about the goodness and greatness of God through Jesus Christ. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith— and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
On our own, we were dead. We were followers. We were objects of God’s wrath. We didn’t have a pulse. We had no basis for boasting of anything in God. There is nothing a dead man can do on behalf of himself to save his own life! No, it is because of God’s grace and God’s grace alone that you and I have been saved.
If you are a Christian the occasion of that salvation was the moment that you believed in Christ Jesus. It was the moment you stood against the currents of secular society and said, "I need Christ! I need a savior! I need to be made alive! I need to be raised up! I need to be shown mercy! I need God’s love! I need a heavenly hope that transcends this life! I need God’s kindness! I need the incomparable riches of his grace."
It was the moment you confessed all your sins to God, repented from them, and pledged to live your life for Jesus Christ. It was the moment that you submitted in the waters of baptism. That is the moment the Christian is to live in for the rest of his or her life! Yet for the rest here this morning, today can be the day of your salvation. Today can be the day that through faith, you reach out and receive God’s gift of salvation.