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Ephesians 2:1-10
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:1-10, ESV
This is one of the most amazing passages of Scripture. I was dead in my sin and, God gave me life. God is rich in mercy and love and, even though I engaged in acts that were against his command, he saved me. The God presented to us in Scripture is amazing and wonderful. I pray that you come to know him as I have!
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Teachings of Jesus: I Never Knew You
One of the hardest teachings of Jesus comes from Matthew 7:21-23 when he says:
23 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’ 23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’ -NET
For many this teaching is too harsh. How could Jesus turn people away whom did amazing works in his name? This is a question that plagued me for many years. Like many of Jesus’ teachings, I had to wrestle with this one. What I found was amazing.
God doesn’t judge people on the basis of what they do; he judges people by their hearts. Many of Jesus’ teachings center around this theme. Notice some other things Jesus says:
Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. -Matt. 6:5-6
Be careful not to display your righteousness merely to be seen by people. Otherwise you have no reward with your Father in heaven. -Matt. 6:1
You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. -Matt. 5:27-28
You have heard that it was said to an older generation, ‘Do not murder,’ and ‘whoever murders will be subjected to judgment.’ But I say to you that anyone who is angry with a brother will be subjected to judgment. -Matt. 5:21-22
As you can see Jesus’ teachings are heavily focused on the heart. Jesus knows that the outside is only an indicator of the inside. However, people can fake being followers of Jesus. People can ‘do’ all the right things and still taste the wrath of God because they did not trust in the righteousness of Christ. People can cast out demons, prophesy, and do amazing deeds in the name of Christ and yet not be saved through the blood of Christ. This is a warning to all of us.
We all know people who professed faith in Christ then, for no apparent reason, turned from faith and reject the saving work of Jesus on the cross. This is hard to understand but in light of Jesus’ words we should not be surprised. We also know people who show up to church every Sunday and are not living godly lives. Now, this should not taken as an opportunity to write these people off but we need to be aware that these people are out there. And we need to be lights to them and show them Jesus’ harsh words. But that isn’t it. There is also a personal aspect to Jesus’ words that is even more serious.
We, as Christians, are to test ourselves in the faith. If God wants people with changed hearts then we are responsible for examining ourselves. Since Jesus’ words are clear that the outside is not the test then we are responsible for what is within. And only God and you can judge your heart. The Apostle Paul understood this when he wrote:
Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you – unless, indeed, you fail the test! -2 Cor. 13:5
Test yourselves daily because when your time comes to stand before the Judge you do not want to be dismissed from his presence.
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What Do You Preach?
Many people view the Apostle Paul as a legend of the faith. He definitely is an important part of Christianity and he is a person that we, as Christians, can look to because of his story and his great conversion. But even beyond that there are so many things about the Apostle Paul that we need to understand.
Most of us know that Paul was a Jew among Jews. He also was the self-proclaimed chief of all sinners. Paul hated Christians and murdered them. But I think one thing that often gets overlooked is the change in Paul’s life. Paul was a self-righteous Pharisee who became a humble servant of Jesus Christ. Paul’s new attitude is shown in 1 Corinthians 2: 1-5 when Paul writes:
And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. -ESV
I enjoy how Paul starts out this section of Scripture because he makes it clear that he doesn’t come to the Corinthians with words of wisdom or of great intelligence, instead he comes with a simple testimony of God. This shows a major shift in Paul’s thinking because in the past his self-righteousness and intelligence defined him. He was a Pharisee. He was a teacher of the law and a professional in the law. And because of his extensive training he had intelligence that far exceeded the average Jew.
Because of his training and intelligence Paul could’ve used elaborate arguments for Christianity, but he decided not to. He simply chose to preach Christ crucified. Paul understood that Christ being crucified was the hinge that Christianity hung on.
In verses three and four Paul gives us a clear view of his humility. He comes to them preaching the Gospel in fear and trembling but be on that he also comes to them in weakness. For any of us to say that would be an act of humility but for Paul its seems like an even greater statement. Here is a guy who was at the top of his field. He studied under Gamaliel who was known as one of the greatest teachers of Jewish law. Yet, Paul still came to the Corinthians in weakness because he knew that his greatest strength could never match that of the God of Scripture. This is shown at the end of verse 4 when Paul writes, “but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
Paul ends this section giving his reason for coming to them in fear, in trembling, and in weakness. Paul understands that if he were to come with great arguments and convinced them solely through the wisdom of man then he would be winning them to the wisdom of man. Human arguments are sometimes needed but what would happen if someone more eloquent came to the Corinthians speaking about another god? It would be Paul’s human arguments against the another’s human arguments. Paul did not want to win them but the wisdom of man; Paul wanted to win them with the wisdom of God. I like how Dr. James White recalls a phrase of one of his fellow elders would say:
What you win them with is what you win them to.
I think this is exactly what Paul was trying to communicate in this passage. Clever reasoning and eloquent arguments may you be great to use but the wisdom of God trumps all. At the end of the day if you win people with clever arguments, you are winning people to clever arguments. But, if you win people with Christ crucified, then you will win people to Christ crucified.
I pray that all of us will have hearts like the Apostle Paul. Hearts that are set on humility and preaching Christ crucified instead of relying solely on our own abilities to reach the lost.
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