In our series on ‘Battles and Blessings’, we looked this morning at the blessings God has for us revealed in Eph 2:1-10. The picture looks bleak initially as Paul reminds us we were once ‘dead in transgressions and sins’ (Eph 2:1), but if we never fully appreciate the seriousness of sin, we will never marvel at the blessings which God’s grace, mercy and kindness bring us.
Sin is the root problem in our world. It is at the heart of every war, crime and injustice and we are all tainted by original sin. Because God is pure, holy and righteous, He cannot look on sin (see Ps 45:7) and therefore without God’s intervention through the sin-offering of Jesus, we are lost (see Rom 3:23, Rom 6:23). The good news of the gospel is that God has done something about this problem and in His mercy has transferred us from death to life. Eph 2:3-6 in the Message version says ‘It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.’ (Eph 2:3-6)
The blessings we focussed on today were:
- God’s amazing grace (Eph 2:5, 8-9) which reminds us that it is not by our own righteousness that the sin problem is fixed, but is entirely His free gift to us
- God’s mercy (Eph 2:4) which enables us to escape the punishment, wrath and just judgment we deserve, receiving instead God’s pardon and welcome, the forgiveness of sins and redemption and restoration and adoption into His family.
- God’s loving kindness (Eph 2:7) which shows in the tender-hearted way He receives us into His family, righting the wrongs of sin and giving us a new position in Christ
- our new spiritual position (Eph 2:6), which is to be seated in the heavenly realms with Christ Jesus (being seated indicating the completeness of the once-for-all sacrifice Christ has offered, see Heb 10:10-12, Col 3:1)
Our service for God needs to spring from hearts that overflow with appreciation and gratitude for these blessings He has poured out on us. We need to learn to wade in the lavish love of God, to splash in His grace, to dive into His mercy, to float on His kindness and then to swim into the good works He has planned for us to do, works unique to us, service that is tailor-made for us by a Father who created us and shaped us and continues to transform us into the image of His Son.
