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The Deadness of Death

“¹And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, ²in 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. ³Among 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. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:1-7

The Deadness of Death

These ten verses contain the content of pure Gospel.  This section of scripture tells us both the what and the why of salvation.  We were dead in our sins.  We were not sick or mortally wounded or having a bad day.  We were dead and in our condition of death we "lived" as dead people "live."  We looked alive on the outside.  The heart beats, lungs breathed, and our biological systems all seemed functional.  However, on the inside, in the spiritual realm of our lives we died.  Sin killed us and in that death drug us into a world of dominance by the evil and selfishness that so pervades our fallen world.  Since we were dead, we were incapable of rectifying the situation.  Dead people cannot save themselves.  Dead people do not even realize that they are dead.  The divine consequence of human rebellion set in motion the death process so that just as Adam and Eve died because of their sin, all people have been swept under that same consequence.  We die because we are connected to our ancestors.  Our ancestors represented us before God.  Adam and Eve decided that freedom from God was more appealing than dependence upon God.  In the end they chose death over life. In doing so they plunged us all into ruin.  We could complain about their representation but all of us embrace their stance on the matter.  All of us choose to rebel against the will of God, refusing to completely submit our wills to Him who made us.  Paul says that we "were dead in our trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked."  No more striking words could have ever been written concerning our life outside of Jesus Christ.  Before Christ came into our lives we lived (walked) in a state of spiritual death, completely unable to alter our circumstance.

Divine Intervention, "But God..."

The finality of death is so clear in the physical world that if someone is really dead we only call a doctor to confirm it and not to reverse it.  This physical reality communicates the spiritual reality that Paul wants us to consider here.  If someone is dead the only way for death to be reversed is if God intervenes on their behalf.  Dead people cannot revive themselves.  Even living people cannot revive the dead.  There is only One who has the power over death.  God Himself is the only one who can give life and take it.  Only God can give life back again to those who are dead.  Just as God raised Jesus from the dead three days after His crucifixion, God raises spiritually dead people.  We need Him.  We cannot do this on our own.  This is why no amount of good works, religious activities, happy thoughts, or self-denials can ever fix our plight.  We are dead and dead people cannot revive themselves.  "But God...made us alive."  He raises the spiritually dead in the same way that He raised His physically dead Son.

Divine Motivation, "So that..."

Why would God do this?  Why would God grant life to dead sinners?  He does this because of the richness of His mercy and love and grace and kindness.  He gives spiritual life to dead rebels so that He can show the true nature of His character.  "So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."  When God saves you, you become God's grace on display.  For the ages to come, from now until all eternity, God's grace is and will be prominently on display in your life.  When we see the severity of our condition and when we can see the monumental intervention by God, God Himself looks all the more glorious.  In doing things just the way that He has we understand that we are loved by the highest and greatest imaginable love.  In doing it this way God's grace is seen as the highest and greatest imaginable grace.  God receives great honor and we receive great love.  This is the Gospel.  We were dead in our sins.  God intervened as only God can.  He made us alive in His Son Jesus Christ.  The same way that He raised Jesus Christ from the dead physically, He has raised us up from our spiritual death.  He saved us because of His love for us and because of His desire to demonstrate His great grace for all of the universe to see both now and forever.

Helpless Sinner Meets Perfectly-Timed, Divine Love of Christ

“⁶For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. ⁸But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:6-8

Helpless Sinner…

Stories of heroism appeal to us, especially when a person of privilege or strength willingly sacrifices for someone in need.  No greater heroism has ever been displayed than the heroic efforts by Jesus Christ.  Our situation was bleak.  We were not good people, just needing a little help.  We were absolutely helpless – we could not do anything to save ourselves.   We were ungodly – we possessed no nobility at all, nothing to warrant someone laying down their life for us.  In a word, we were sinners, having willfully rebelled against God by choosing our own way.  The word for sin in scripture means to fall short of a goal.  Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  Our aim and purpose in life is to see, experience, reflect, and delight in the glory of God.  When we decide by thought, word, or deed to reject God’s standards and select our own path, we fail to accomplish the purpose for which we have been created.  This failure or shortcoming is compared to an archer aiming at a target but shooting the arrow far short of the intended target.  Our failure happens over and over again.  The standard for the archer is the target.  The archer’s failure to achieve that standard presents a serious indictment on the archer.  The purpose of shooting the bow and arrow is to hit the target.  The purpose of being human is to hit the target of God’s standards for us.  Our failure to achieve the glory of God in each and every decision we make presents a serious indictment on us.  We stand helpless, ungodly, and sinful before God.

…Meets Perfectly-Timed, Divine Love of Christ

Christ on the other hand is absolutely perfect.  Like an archer that has never missed a bull’s eye, He spent His entire life achieving the righteous requirements of His Father’s Law.  His motives, His speech, and His actions were all perfectly holy.  Never has the contrast between two archers been so striking.  The one archer shoots errant arrows over and over again.  The other shoots direct hits on the target over and over again.  The one is ungodly and helpless.  The other is godly and powerful.  Now that we have discussed the quality of each player in this drama, we discover two things about the death of Christ from this passage.  First, the death of Jesus Christ was perfectly timed.  “At the right time Christ died for the ungodly.”  After generations of ungodly failure, when humanity felt the full weight of failing to achieve the righteous standard of God, God sent His Son.  Paul uses the phrase “at just the right time” to communicate God’s perfectly timed sovereignty in the work of salvation.  Christ came at the perfect moment in history, to a Jewish people struggling under Roman oppression with a Greek culture and language providing the means of spreading the message of Christ to the whole world.  Christ also came at just the right time in moral history.  For over a thousand years, the Jewish people struggled under the Law of God.  Those generations of Jewish people demonstrated, what is true for all of us, that no moral law has ever reformed the heart of humanity.  The Law is like a mirror.  It reveals our flaws but it cannot correct them.  At just the right time in human history and moral history, Christ came for us.  The second observation from this passage is that we discover God’s motive for the work of salvation.  “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  He loves us and willingly demonstrates His love by sending His righteous Son to rescue us from our sin.  Imagine the extent of God’s love.  If someone willing dies to save a good man, that is incredibly noble and sacrificial.  Consider this, God’s love greatly exceeds even that lofty standard.  God’s love reveals a unique and extreme sacrifice.  Christ dies for the ungodly.  God saves the ungodly.  God loves the ungodly.  His timing is perfect and His love is amazing. 

Include Me Promo

We are launching a new ministry of encouragement.  Marcy has felt led to provide a place of encouragement and support.  You can hear her story here.  https://vimeo.com/206946761

The group will meet on Sunday evenings at 5:30pm in the worship center.  The meeting room is the classroom just next to the exit doors on the south east corner of the worship center, next to the choir room.  For more information please feel free to contact Marcy or Josh for more information.