Paul starts by saying that they were dead.  Dead!  Not physically, but more importantly they were dead spiritually.  They were facing the anger of God because they were living their lives with passions for the things that gratified themselves, completely unconcerned with the things of God.  They were doing things God hates and did not care about the things God cared about.  Paul says that is where everyone was once.  Dead.  Living in the “passions of our flesh.” (see Gal. 5:19-21).  Here’s the thing…if you are dead how do you bring yourself to life?  Answer: you can’t.  Paul tells us that it was God, because he loves us, that brought them to life.  And he did it so that future generations would know how great God’s mercies are.  We can do nothing to bring ourselves to life.  It is only by faith that we are saved.

Paul then says that we were brought to life for good works.  Awesome!  Now I feel like there is something that I can do.  I can go do good works, right?  Then I will feel like I have accomplished something.  Actually, no.  Paul says that the good works we are to do have already been prepared by God for us to “walk in.”  Huh?  You mean I can’t do anything to save myself and even after I’m saved I can’t do a bunch of good works to feel like I’m earning my keep?  That’s right.  Nothing.  We participate in what God is doing.  We can’t do anything that God couldn’t do without us.  So why do good works?  Because when we understand how great his love for us is we won’t be able to resist telling and showing people how great our blessing from God is in Christ.  We will desire to join him where he is working and “walk in” the good works that he has prepared ahead of time.  Our salvation and our Christian walk are gifts of God that we have by faith alone.

A Christian is a follower of Christ.  Luke 9:23 says: Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.”  So Christians are followers of Christ.  What does that mean?  It means we live our lives the way he would have us live them.  We follow his instructions for our lives.  If he says jump…we jump.  If he says duck…we duck.  What he says goes.  As a matter of fact, as we will learn during our study of Ephesians, we are to live as if we were Christ’s slaves (Eph. 6:5-6)!  We are sons and daughters of the King and we are to live as slaves to him and him alone.  We don’t live as spoiled princes and princesses, but as slaves to Christ.  What he says goes.  I’m getting to my point.  If Christians are to do as he says in every area of our life then is there any way for Christians to ignore what our Lord and master is saying?  Ignore our Lord?  That doesn’t even make sense!  Of course we can’t!  Well, there is only one way for us to know what he is saying.  Listen!  He speaks to us through Scripture.  Ignoring what he says to us in Scripture is just like sticking our fingers in our ears, turning our backs on him, but still telling the world we live for Christ.  NOT POSSIBLE!

again, I’m not suggesting that this is you.  But I do want to warn you that there are those out there that seem to find this acceptable behavior.  But please do not be discouraged.  Be encouraged!  We have the very words of God in our homes.  We can read it.  We can equip ourselves to teach others.  We can be the lights that we are called to be.  Maybe you are thinking that you don’t know how.  Or that you have tried this before and failed.  Or maybe you are thinking that you just don’t understand what you are reading.  Don’t worry.  We’ve all been there.  If that’s you, know that we are going to work on this.  We will talk about how to read Scripture.  You don’t have to get it all at once.

Here is the most important thing (probably should have put it closer to the top of this email): We are not going to study Ephesians for the sake of just gaining knowledge.  We will study Ephesians for transformation!!! Knowledge is good, but we want more.  We will study because in his Word is where we will discover the life changing transformation that comes only from God.  Knowledge can point us in the right direction, but the Holy Spirit makes it real and active in our lives.  That’s what we desire!  To know God the creator and initiator.  To know Christ and him crucified, the one who intercedes for us at God’s right hand.  To fellowship with the Holy Spirit who comforts and makes the work of Christ active in our lives.  Lives changing to look more and more like Christ’s is what we are after.  All for the glory of God.

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it–the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (emphasis mine)

To have the righteousness of God (salvation) we must have faith in Jesus!  This is what makes the study of who Jesus is so important. It has to do with our eternal salvation!  What could be more important?

Because the Bible is so clear on how we are saved, we can learn more about who Jesus is.  Last night we ran through a ton of Scripture.  I am including the passages that we looked at below.  I hope that you all trust that I do my absolute best to share with you the truth of Scripture, but I also want you to verify.  All teachers and preachers are fallible.  Plus, I want you to have the Scripture to meditate on for the times during the day that you withdraw from the world and set your minds on the things of God.  The verses are broken into two groups.  Those that speak of Christ’s divinity and those that speak of his humanity.

peace,

Chris

His Divinity

John 1:1-3, 14, 18

Romans 9:5

Phil 2:6-8

Col 1:15-17

Heb 1:1-3

John 10:30

His Humanity

John 11:35

Gal 4:4-5

Luke 2:40, 52

Matt 4:2

John 19:28

John 4:6

Mar 13:32

Heb 4:15

Luke 4:1-2

The question that naturally follows is, “If we don’t live our lives according to the law that we have been set free from, then how do we live our lives?”  This is what Paul talks about in Romans 8.  He says if we are in Christ we have been saved from the condemnation that the Law of Moses brought about (8:1) and that now we have the Spirit of life (8:2).  God did what we couldn’t do and sent Jesus to meet the righteous requirements of the law for us and take the punishment we deserve!  This is the good news of the Gospel.  We have been set free from sin, death, and the law through faith in Jesus Christ.  Now what?  We live our lives according to the Spirit!  We no longer think on or desire those things that the “flesh” desired (money, fame, security, escape from suffering) and instead we think on the things of the Spirit.  We know the things of the Spirit because they are all through the Bible.  We have been set free to do those things!  We can now love our spouse how we should, glorify God in our speech, praise the Lord with our life, do away with hate and anger.  We have that freedom!  We are called to live this way because we have been transported by Christ to the Kingdom of God!  Prayer is a must.  Scripture reading is a must.  Being a part of a community of other believers is a must.  Loving our neighbors is a must.  This is a partial list, but you get the idea.  We live our lives differently because our very reality has been changed!

My prayer is that you chase that Spirit filled life.  That you think on things that drive you to prayer, worship and celebration.  That your life is changed in your pursuit of the holiness of God.  Allow him to transform you.  Live so that in your conversations the love that has been given to you leaps from your heart and out your mouth.

This passage is often thought of as being about original sin.  It isn’t.  It does talk about original sin (more on that in a minute) but that’s not the point.  The passage is really about victory.  Paul has already made his argument that sin reigns in the world.  In 3:23 he comes out and says what he has been arguing: everybody has sinned and no one measures up to the standard of God.  Sin reigns in this world.  It is everywhere.  Paul made this argument in chapters 2 and 3.  In chapter 5 he says that the reign of sin is over.  See, ever since sin has been in the world there has been death.  Sin brought death into the world.  Sin and death reign in this world.  You can’t escape them on your own.  The world is subject to them.  We live in the kingdom (the world) of death and sin!  Do you doubt this?  How could you?  Turn on the TV, or better yet just look at your life.  In all of us is the desire to do what we want despite what God says.  No one would argue that there is also death in the world.  This is the condition we have been trapped in.
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In Romans 5:12-21 Paul lays out how, through the Gospel, we can have freedom from that world.  Freedom from the hold that death and sin have on us.  Freedom to enter a new kingdom where the poor and the poor in spirit have an inheritance.  Where those who mourn over the sin in their lives and the world can be comforted.  A kingdom where the meek, not the powerful, will inherit the entire earth and those that ache for righteousness and justice to be done will be satisfied.  Where those who are merciful to others will receive mercy themselves and where those whose heart is pure will see God himself.  In this new kingdom available by faith those who desire and work for peace will be revealed as sons and daughters of the most high God and those who have been persecuted, laughed at, and marginalized for holding up the name of God will be welcomed with open arms. (Matthew 5:2-11).

This victory was not won by a great army.  It was won by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Because of what he did you and I have access to the kingdom of God!  Jesus died for your sins!  To free you from the rebellion against God!  Unbelievable.  This rebellion and this reign of death has been ruling in the world since Adam.  Adam’s sin effected us all (this is original sin).  Adam’s sin allowed corruption in the world.  It unleashed the reign of sin.  But Christ overturned all of that.  The corruption of sin may seem large but the grace of God is much more powerful.  It overturns death itself!  This is what Romans 5:12-21 is about.  How big God’s favor, kindness and love is.  It is so big that it crushes sin and death.  And we have access to this grace through faith and faith alone.

So, the question that follow usually goes like this: “Well if grace is so big and awesome that whenever I sin there is more grace, then it’s cool if I keep on sinning, right?  Because then there will be even more grace, right?”  Well, Paul anticipated that question and addresses it in Romans 6:1-14.  We’ll be talking about that this week.  The short answer is: no.  Absolutely not.  You no longer belong to sin if you are a Christian.  Why would you voluntarily let it continue to be a part of your life?  It leads to death, remember?

Paul then turns to how that is made possible.  The cross.  Jesus’ death and resurrection makes it possible for us to in right relationship with God.  How?  By faith.  By believing that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and accepting him as our Lord and savior.  There is no other way.  God doesn’t need any good work that you or I do.  He created everything that exists.  Light and dark, mountain and stream, sun and moon, plant and animal, you and me, time and space.  What could I possibly do to make things right with him?  Nothing.  He did it for us.  He payed the price for us.  We sinned against him, but he paid the price for us.  Why?  Because not only is he a just God, but he is also love.  Justice and love.  Amazing.  We must believe in him.  This is what Paul has been laying out in Romans so far.

In 5:1-11 that we looked at last week we saw that Paul has moved from explaining the Gospel to talking about the effect it has on us now.  Hope.  That’s what it does for us now.  It gives us hope.  It changes our perspective.  We no longer think about things in terms this world, but instead we think in terms of the kingdom of God which exists in eternity.  We can have confidence that the faith we have in Christ now means that when we stand in front of the King to be judged that he also stands beside us to say that the penalty has been faced.  This is how we face suffering in this world and it will produce faith.  Paul says that a Christians suffering produced endurance.  We are able to bear it because we know that we stand right with God in eternity.  He then says that endurance produces character.  As we endure suffering we begin to depend more and more on him.  If we could solve it ourselves then we would end the suffering, but we can’t.  Suffering breaks us down so that we depend more and more on him.  This character that is built up produces hope in us.  Why?  Because as our character develops we see God more clearly.  We see reality more clearly.  The reality that God will restore his creation and we will be revealed as his adopted sons!

This week we look at Romans 5:12-21.  This is the…be ready for a fancy word…Doctrine of Imputation.  Sounds huge doesn’t it?  It is!

Paul has already said that the entire world stands condemned by sin (Romans 1:18).  In the rest of chapter 1 Paul appears to be directing his comments at the Gentiles who are those who do not have the special revelation of God’s law.  Common Jewish criticism of the Gentiles is that they are sexually immoral and worship false idols, which is what we find in Romans 1:19-32.  But Paul isn’t just concerned with the Gentiles.  In Chapter 2 he has something to say to the Jews about sin.  Most of us aren’t Jewish, but Paul’s message contains principles that I feel are important for the Church to learn.

1First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 3This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

Prayer is an amazing thing that keeps us grounded in the true reality that is eternity.  This earthly kingdom is temporary, but God’s kingdom is eternal.  So as you pray, pray like those in the Bible who were persecuted pray: that no matter what happens that we boldly share the good news of God coming to earth to die on a cross, rising from the dead, and conquering death and hell so that we could be offered the gift of becoming children of God.