“Oct 11, 2024 - But God”

Thursday, October 10, 2024

But God

Reading:  Ephesians 2:1-10
    
    Paul has been discussing God’s great power in raising Jesus from the dead and exalting him (Eph 1:20) and now turns to how he has also raised and exalted us.  “And you were dead in your 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”(Eph 2:1-3).  Paul describes our tragic state.  We sinned, but our sins began to take over and define our lives.  We lived in them, served them, and were entrapped by them.  They began to characterize us.  They killed us.  

    So what changed?  Did we simply decide to do better?  “But God”(Eph 2:4).  God changed.  God initiated something new.  God acted to rescue us.  “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 heavenly places in Christ Jesus”(Eph 2:4-6).  God was prompted by his love and mercy (certainly not our virtue) to apply his power to us.  Just as he made Jesus alive in the grave, so he made us alive with him.  Just as he exalted Jesus, so he has exalted us.  God is the hero of the story.  This is why he insists that “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”(Eph 2:8-9).  Our salvation is not our doing; without God, we would still be desperate and dead.

    God certainly expects his people to obey him and do what he commands; he has redeemed us “for good works”(Eph 2:10).  Yet all the good works and all the obedience in the world cannot redeem us from our sins.  Without God’s mercy, without his intervention, without his sacrifice, we would still be lost and hopeless.  God is the hero of the story.  Salvation is always his doing.

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One Thing to Think About: Am I ever tempted to boast in my own works?

One Thing to Pray For:  Gratitude to God for saving me from my sins and myself 
 

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