Dave continued our study of Ephesians 2 this morning, looking at the first seven verses in more detail.

He talked about the contrast between the natural man (one who has no relationship with God) and the Christian (one who does have a relationship with God through Christ.) The natural state is that of being spiritually dead. John 17:3 tells us that eternal life is knowing God and Jesus Christ. God is the author of life and gives life, but before we know God, we are trapped in a circle of depravity and do not have life at all. We were, therefore, under God’s condemnation, but God did something about this situation!

Now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). Moreoever, not only has Jesus risen from the dead, we have been seated with God in heavenly places. We have died to sin (Romans 6:1-2) – not that we are now without sin (see 1 John 1:8), but we no longer belong to sin anymore; we are no longer slaves to sin. Now, we have a choice!

Now, because of God’s great love, mercy and kindness, we are alive to God. We have a new mind (Romans 12:1-2) and a new purpose. We are, indeed, new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17) and we share in Christ’s exaltation and glory.

One thing that really struck me on reading Ephesians 2 is the graphic language Paul uses. I was especially struck by verse 3 (“gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts.”)

‘Cravings’ reminds me of when I was pregnant and had some very weird cravings for food. One day I even bought a new frying pan so that I could eat pancakes (the old one had lost its non-stick!) I virtually lived on sweet and sour chicken when I was pregnant. I craved it so much I can still remember the feeling of yearning twenty years later!

The Greek word rendered ‘cravings’ by the NIV is epithumia. It means a longing (especially for what is forbidden) and can also be translated ‘lust’. I was also struck by the idea of the sinful nature having both desires and thoughts, which to me speaks both of emotions and reason.

Our old nature appeals to both our feelings and to our rational thoughts. We believe that by giving in to its cravings, we will be gratified: that is, we will feel happy, satisfied and fulfilled. But the sinful nature can never satisfy us. The only satisfaction that truly lasts is found in God.

We now have some great posters up in the community hall.

The verse is 1 Peter 3:10 in the CEV: “Do you really love life? Do you want to be happy? Then stop saying cruel things and quit telling lies. “

The verse here is Psalm 4:8 (“I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.”)

This cute dog reminds us of Hebrews 13:6

And this maybe not-so-cute dog reminds us of Hebrews 10:23 (“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”)

Last week, we looked at Ephesians 2 in the Bible study.

The chapter begins with Paul’s reminder of what we were before we became Christians: how we were dead in transgressions and sin and totally separated from God and all of His promises for mankind. Now, we have been made alive together with Christ: indeed, we have been raised and made to sit together with Christ in the heavenly places, that God might show even more riches of His grace in the ages to come. All of this, God did by His love, grace and mercy. Our part is faith – and even that is a gift from God! – not works, so that we cannot boast that we engineered our salvation ourselves. The end result is that we have been created in Christ to walk in good works, which God planned beforehand for us to do.

The second part of the chapter looks at how far we have come as Gentiles, courtesy of Jesus Christ. Once strangers from the promises made to Israel and without God in the world, we can now draw near through the blood of Christ. By His death on the cross, Jesus abolished the law and commandments which separated Jews and Gentiles and has reconciled us both to God in one body. We Gentiles can therefore be fellow-citizens and members of God’s family. We are alos part of that grand temple being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Jesus as the cornerstone. We then become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

In the discussion that followed, there were many points raised for reflection. Perhaps the most fundamental is that without an appreciation of our true state without God, we cannot appreciate the enormity of what God has done for us. We do not have a ‘cheap salvation’, but one which cost so much because our state was so desperate. We can marvel at God’s love, grace and mercy, but we can never earn these things. They are offered freely to us. Then the challenge is to walk in the works God has prepared for us to do. As Michael Card so eloquently says in his song ‘The Poem of your Life’ (based on the Greek word for ‘workmanship’ (poiema) in Ephesians 2:10):

“Life is a song we must sing with our days
A poem with meaning more than words can say
A painting with colours no rainbow can tell
A lyric that rhymes either heaven or hell.”

Yesterday was our usual coffee morning, but this week we decided to join Macmillan in their fund-raising efforts and hosted a Macmillan coffee morning. We raised £124 from the coffee morning – thanks!

Here’s the new board we have had made to advertise the coffee mornings:

Welcoming people:

Joan always has a smile!

A smile from our host, Diane (and Garry!):

More smiles…

We sold some books and buns as well.

This Saturday (25th September), the coffee morning will be in aid of Macmillan, the cancer support nurses. So if you would like a cuppa, come along on Saturday between 10 a.m. and 12 noon and know that you are supporting this cancer charity as well as getting to know people from church!

Ephesians 1 in the Authorised version tells us that we are ‘accepted in the Beloved’ (Eph 1:6) Mark preached on acceptance on Sunday evening, beginning first of all by asking if we had ever modified our behaviour in order to be acceptable to others.

Have we ever…
… dressed to please other people?
… modified our speech to fit in?
….pretended to be something else just to feel acceptable to others?
… bought things to impress other people rather than because we really want or need those things?

People may judge us by outward appearances, but God sees the heart (1 Sam 16:7) and it is always better to be real than to be a fake.

Chameleons are lizards which can often change colour according to their background and surroundings. This is a kind of camouflage and can help them to survive. So… we may have green chameleons…

or we may have orange chameleons…

or even striped ones!

Chameleons may benefit from this ability to merge with their backgrounds, but we are not chameleons. God wants us to be real people, not adapting our behaviour according to the company we keep, but allowing His life to shine through us. Moreover, sometimes we even try to do things to be acceptable to God, failing to understand that it is God who has made the way for us to be accepted in the Beloved.

Reading the Word, praying and doing good works are to be commended, but they are not in themselves enough to make us acceptable. Only the blood of Jesus can make us acceptable to a holy God – any spiritual sacrifices we make are acceptable to God because they are through Jesus (1 Pet 2:4-5) Grace is God’s unearned favour, and we need to understand that we are accepted because of what Christ has done, not because of what we can do.

“I’m forgiven because You were forsaken
I’m accepted, You were condemned
I’m alive and well
Your Spirit is within me
Because You died and rose again”
(Billy James Foote)