Trophies On Display
Sermon by Pastor Dennis Gleason, October 18, 2003
Text: Ephesians 2:4-10
Our text for today is found in Ephesians 2:4-10.
4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so very much, 5that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s special favor that you have been saved!) 6For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms—all because we are one with Christ Jesus. 7And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of his favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us through Christ Jesus.
This text contains something the Apostle Paul wants us to know about the Purposes of God. God’s purpose for us involves two things:God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago
- God places us on display. (2:7)
- God intends for us to do good works (2:10)
The purposes of God in this passage of Scripture give us our focus for today. Scripture is to be our guide. It is here that we discover the plan, the purpose of God for his people.
2 Timothy 3:16 tells us this: "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."
Notice if you will how Paul develops the idea of what Scripture is designed for: Let’s put it in the context of driving your car. You are driving down the road minding your own business. Scripture’s purpose is to teach you how to live your life as God’s life and power within you. Using our illustration of a car…you run off the road in a huge cloud of dust. The idea of what Paul is saying here would be this: it would be to teach you how to operate your car and drive correctly. It would also tell you that you had run off the road (reproof); how to get back onto the road (correction) and show you repeatedly how to drive correctly and then give you the opportunity to practice driving (training).
Those are the four elements of the purpose of Scripture in the life of the Believer: to teach us, to reprove us when we are off the straight and narrow path; to bring correction into our life…this would be to show us how to get back on the right path…and then train us to do what is right and good.
God’s plan for Scripture is that it will equip us for every good work so that we might be adequate for the tasks at hand that God intends for us to do. He plans to put us on display.
That leads us to the question of why does God come into our lives? Why does he change the fundamental basis of our experience.
The answer to these questions is found in the first purpose of God related to mankind:
Paul tells us in verse 7 that "…in the coming ages he might show (to himself – a middle tense) the riches of his grace." God plans to have a display case (heaven) in which the glory of his character and being will become fully evident.
Years ago when we were living in California, we drove down to Santa Rosa to visit the place where Charles Schultz – creator of the Snoopy cartoon series – had his studio and where he drew his cartoons of Snoopy and his cast of characters. There were a number of original drawings displayed on the walls around the studio. Each of these cartoons displayed the skill of the artist and conveyed some mood, some look or situation that would evoke humor
That is exactly what the Apostle Paul has in mind here as the Holy Spirit leads him to put these words down
The first purpose of God in this passage is this: God is going to put us on display.
Each of us who believe in Jesus Christ and have accepted Him as our Savior and Lord of our lives is going to be a vivid demonstration of the grace and perfection of God’s character.
The glory of His person will be visible in us through out the coming ages.
This will be especially exhibited by his kindness toward us.
Acts 14:16-17 tells us that God’s kindness towards us is exhibited in the physical or natural realm as well as the spiritual realm. "In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways; yet he did not leave himself without witness. For he did good and gave us from heaven fruitful rains and fruitful seasons to satisfy our hearts with food and gladness.
God’s blessing and abundance, so evident in our nation is a mark of God’s kindness towards us. It is therefore reflected in our natural life.
In Romans 2:4 Paul says that God’s kindness is designed to lead us to repentance; to cause us to think about the God who loves us enough to provide for our needs and to fill our lives with goodness…He provides us with food, clothing, shelter and everything else that God has given us.
God’s kindness expressed to us is also redemptive. Titus 2:4-5 tell us "When the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us…by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit. All of this is designed by God to remind us of the way God works in our lives.
Paul makes it clear that God has just begun to bless us. Verse 7 says, "in order that in the coming ages (plural) He might show the surpassing riches of his grace…" God has just begun to give to us. He has not yet poured out his kindness toward us in its fullest degree.
God’s plan: is to manifest in abundance the riches of his grace toward us.
How long is an age? Well, there have been two ages in the history of mankind: The first age from Adam to Noah and the flood. The second age encompasses every thing mankind has experienced from the flood to the present time. This present age will come to an end at the second coming of Jesus Christ. At that point, another age will begin…with the coming of the new heavens and the new earth and all the spiritual growth and challenge that take place.
According to the Apostle Paul God plans many more ages to come…"in the coming ages…" Note that the word Paul uses to convey the time period of the age is in the plural. God has in mind possibilities in the future that are far more extensive than anything we have ever yet dreamed.
Think about our lives for a moment. Suddenly life is nearly over. We have such a brief span of time for our life from the womb to the tomb. But God is inviting us to look beyond this life to the possibilities that exist because of his kindness toward us. Our present life might not always be what we would like it to be, but this is merely the beginning for the believer….a start toward those great possibilities that lie ahead of us.
Robert Browning’s poem "Rabbi Ben Ezra" has this to say to us:
"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made."
The basis for all of this is the grace of God shown to us in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross. God’s grace provides us with salvation, through faith. God gave to make it all possible.
Once again, note that it has already been done!
"…you have been saved…" We have that new life, that new identity in Christ. We are no longer, what we once were. We have a new identity.
How would we apply this to our own lives?
What all this has to say to us is that the reality of what God has done for us can make all the difference in how we approach life; whether we feel inadequate, guilty, rejected or lonely or whether we are filled with confidence, certainty, acceptance and love.
If we don’t see ourselves as a worthwhile person, accepted by God, and of great importance to God, we won’t see others that way either. We ill begin to demand performance of others in order to accept them. We won’t be able to forgive others. We will be caught in a web of perfectionism in which we are constantly feeling guilty about ourselves because we cannot live up to our own ideals.
Paul tells us here that God can deliver us from all this. That is his purpose. That we might because of his grace shown us. God is within us constantly releasing his life in and through us… a little touch of heaven on our earthly condition. It is his responsibility to work out our problems.
God has accomplished all of this through his grace shown in his kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. And God is not going to add another thing to the foundation already laid in Christ. God has already done it all. He started it by giving us his Son Jesus Christ to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.
The second purpose of God is found in the statement by Paul that we are his workmanship, his masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do. God is working out in our lives a tremendous exhibition and demonstration of his wisdom, his power, his love, his life, his character, his peace and joy.
He is teaching us. He is training us. He is bringing us along, working with us. We are becoming that great masterpiece to be put on display. It is all to result in good works: in kindness toward others, love, mercy, compassion, helping one another and meeting each others needs.
Paul tells us that the work we are supposed to do is already prepared for us to do. It has been prepared in advance for us. All we have to do is to step out and walk in it. If we will just walk in the Spirit, he will lead you to those things God has already prepared for us to do.
Ask God to show you what it is that he has already prepared for you to do and He will. When he does step out and walk in it and do the work he has prepared for you to do.
- Dennis Gleason
